Many of us look for ratings when making choices, and in the nursing home arena, there are rating systems as well. The federal government has a website, Nursing Home Compare, which is a combination of independent analysis and facility-provided info about every Medicare or Medicaid certified nursing home in the US. There’s been criticism of this site, and while it’s been improved, it may still be challenging for the average consumer to gauge the value of the info. But did you know that Yelp also allows for ratings of hospitals, nursing homes, and other healthcare settings? Admittedly, the reviews on Yelp are anecdotes and only one person’s experience, yet they’re likely to address the questions and concerns that real people have with their relatives in nursing homes. And a recent study published in the BMJ Journal of Quality and Safety confirms that Yelp reviews tend to be lower than ratings of the same facilities on the federal website. Researchers at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology found that on average,Yelp reviews were considerably lower, and provided input on such non-clinical issues as the friendliness of the staff or whether a loved one improved or deteriorated. For more about this study, and it’s implications for nursing home selection, read Paula Span’s New York Times piece Here.

It’s never easy to consider nursing home placement for a loved one, so it’s critical to ask the right questions. For a good basic look at the challenge of nursing home selection, Read Here. And for a list of some “must-ask” questions when you’re considering nursing homes for someone, Click Here.