Resident Rights in a Nursing Home
In 1987, Congress enacted the Nursing Home Reform Law that has been incorporated into the Medicare and Medicaid regulations. The law gives residents a number of specific rights, including:
-
Residents have the right to be free of unnecessary physical or chemical restraints.
-
Facilities must inform residents of the name, specialty, and means of contacting the physician responsible for the resident’s care. Residents have the right to participate in care planning meetings.
-
At the time of admission and during the stay, nursing homes must fully inform residents of the services available in the facility, and of related charges.
-
Residents may bring personal possessions to the nursing home, such as clothing, furnishings and jewelry.
-
Nursing home residents may not be moved to a different room, a different nursing home, a hospital, back home or anywhere else without advance notice, an opportunity for appeal and a showing that such a move is in the best interest of the resident or necessary for the health of other nursing home residents.
-
Residents have the right to gain access to all his or her records within one business day, and a right to copies of those records at a cost that is reasonable in that community