Your Rights As A Nursing Home Resident

Please exercise these rights by:

• Visiting the facility
  
• Contacting the Department of Health, Long-Term Care Division (317/233-7442), and office of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman (317/232-7134 or 800/622-4484), for additional information about the facility.
  
• Reviewing the facility's admission agreement and receiving a written notice of rates of basic services, optional services, and whether the facility participates in Medicaid or Medicare. Written notice must also be given 30 days in advance of any changes in rates or services.

You have the right to be treated with
respect and dignity in recognition of your
individuality and preferences.

You have the right to quality care and
treatment that is fair and free from
discrimination.

Relatives or a legal representative may act
on your behalf to exercise these rights
when you are unable to do so yourself.

Admission Rights

The facility must inform you of all of your
rights, in a language or manner that you
understand, through written and oral
information available to residents and
sponsors.

The facility must inform you of all the
facility's rules and regulations, including
those regarding transfer and discharge
policies.

You have the right to carefully review and
understand all contracts and agreements
prior to signing.

The nursing home cannot require a
co-signer for payment, but may require a
relative or a legal representative to ensure
payment from your income or resources.

You have the right to apply for Medicare
and Medicaid and the right to information
and assistance in applying for those
programs.

You cannot be asked to give up or delay
your rights to receive Medicare or
Medicaid.

You cannot be asked to give the facility a
security deposit if you are a Medicare or
Medicaid beneficiary.

Visits with family and friends.

Contact and meet with certain agency
representatives or individuals who pro-
vide health, legal, social, or other services.

Privacy during your visits or meetings, in
making telephone calls, and with your
mail. Reasonable visiting hours must be
provided.

Privacy in your room and during bathing,
medical treatment, and personal care.

Keep your personal and health records
confidential.

Quality of Life in the Nursing Home
You have a right to:

Choose and participate in activities that you
like and which are part of your plan of care.

Participate in social, religious, and
community activities.

Register and vote in local, state and
national elections.

Voice complaints or grievances without
fear of retaliation. The nursing home
must give you information about how to
file a complaint with the facility, the
Ombudsman, and with the Department of
Health, Long-Term Care Division.

Organize and participate in resident
groups. Your family has the right
to organize and participate in family
groups in the nursing home.

Express preferences with respect to your
room and roommate and be advised in
writing before any changes are made.

A safe, clean, comfortable, home-like
environment.

Receive care in a manner which promotes
and enhances your quality of life. This
includes food of the quantity and quality
to meet your needs and preferences.

Services necessary to attain or maintain
your highest practicable level of
functioning.

Protect Your Money and Possessions
You have a right to:

Manage your own financial affairs, or you
may have the nursing home manage your
personal money in accordance with
specific requirements which include
periodic accounting reports.

Reasonable security of clothing and per-
sonal property. The nursing home must
have a program to reduce theft and loss
and maintain an inventory of your
clothing and other personal property.

Participate in designing your plan of
care/treatment

Choose your personal doctor.

Refuse any plan of care, treatment, or
procedure.

Make advance directives for treatment
such as a durable power of attorney for
health care or other instructions about
important health care decisions such as
unwanted, life-sustaining treatment.

Participate or refuse to participate in
experimental research.

Freedom from Restraint and Abuse
You have the right to:

Refuse any restraints that limit your
mobility or drugs that affect your mind,
except in emergency situations. Any use
of such restraints must be to treat medical
symptoms and not for the purpose of
discipline or staff convenience.

Be free from verbal, physical, sexual, and
mental abuse; corporal punishment;
neglect; and involuntary seclusion.

Not be required to perform services for
the facility unless the work is medically
indicated and included in the therapeutic
treatment plan.

Be notified in writing before you are to
be transferred or discharged from the
nursing home.

Appeal any transfer or discharge decision
to the Indiana State Department of
Health, Long-Term Care Division.

Return to the nursing home after a
short-term transfer to a hospital or after a
therapeutic leave from the facility. The
nursing home must explain to you their
policy about bed holds and your rights to
return to the facility.

Help In Protecting Your Rights

Long-Term Care Ombudsman

Indiana has an Ombudsman Program with
trained ombudsmen to help with questions
or problems about the nursing home and to
assist you in exercising your rights. For
information about the Ombudsman
Program in your area, call or write:

State Ombudsman
Division of Aging and Rehabilitative Services
P.O. Box 7083, MS 21
Indianapolis, IN 46207-7083
(317)232-7134
(800)622-4484

The Indiana State Department of Health,
Long-Term Care Division, licenses and
regulates nursing homes on the basis of
complaint investigations and annual
inspections. Consumers may obtain
copies of inspection and complaint inves-
tigation reports at the Department of
Health office in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The facility must display, in a prominent
place, the address and telephone number of:

• State Department of Health
• Local Ombudsman
• Area Agency on Aging
• Local Mental Health Center
• Protection and Advocacy Commission

Persons may contact the Long-Term Care
Divisionof the Indiana State Department
of Health regarding any problems related
to the care rendered in Long-Term Care
facilities. The Long-Term Care Division
investigates issues of concern that can be
supported by federal regulations and
state rules governing Long-Term Care
facilities in the state of Indiana.

Complaints

You may file a complaint about a violation
of federal or state law with the Indiana
State Department of Health, Long-Term
Care Division by calling (800)246-8909.
You may also read about how to report a
complaint, and submit a complaint via e-mail
by clicking here.