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Ohio Will Create Nursing Home Buyers Guide

Wed, 07/26/2000 - 12:00am — Karen Stevenson
Description: 

Governor Bob Taft signed H.B.403, sponsored by Rep. Pat Tiberi (R--Columbus), to create a comprehensive, internet-based guide to help families make informed decisions when selecting a long-term care facility. The Ohio Department of Aging will develop the guide and post it on the Internet early next fall. The on-line consumer guide will feature individual pages with links for more than 1,000 nursing home facilities in Ohio. The plan calls for including annual nursing home resident and family member surveys and histories of regulatory compliance. Location, size of facility, special programs and services, cost and accepted sources of payment will also be shown. The Internet site will link to each facility's web site. The guide will also link to other resources and aging services.

In addition to creating the consumer guide, the new law provides $1.4 million in existing funding for technical assistance from the Ohio Department of Health to help nursing homes improve quality and reach compliance. The bill also requires the Ohio Department of Health to investigate, within ten days, certain unresolved complaints referred by the State Long-term Care Ombudsman. The bill has an immediate $6 million impact on state funding for home and community-based services, and $6.6 million in state dollars to fund temporary changes to the nursing home reimbursement formula.

Governor Bob Taft signed H.B.403, sponsored by Rep. Pat Tiberi (R--Columbus), to create a comprehensive, internet-based guide to help families make informed decisions when selecting a long-term care facility. The Ohio Department of Aging will develop the guide and post it on the Internet early next fall. The on-line consumer guide will feature individual pages with links for more than 1,000 nursing home facilities in Ohio. The plan calls for including annual nursing home resident and family member surveys and histories of regulatory compliance. Location, size of facility, special programs and services, cost and accepted sources of payment will also be shown. The Internet site will link to each facility's web site. The guide will also link to other resources and aging services.

In addition to creating the consumer guide, the new law provides $1.4 million in existing funding for technical assistance from the Ohio Department of Health to help nursing homes improve quality and reach compliance. The bill also requires the Ohio Department of Health to investigate, within ten days, certain unresolved complaints referred by the State Long-term Care Ombudsman. The bill has an immediate $6 million impact on state funding for home and community-based services, and $6.6 million in state dollars to fund temporary changes to the nursing home reimbursement formula.