Why Should You Sign a Nursing Home Admission Agreement?

Often times when a loved one is moving into a nursing home, their family members must sign admissions paperwork. It’s a very stressful and confusing experience for everyone involved.

Unfortunately, many of these agreements contain provisions that require you to be personally liable for your relative’s care and have all disputes resolved through binding arbitration. These may be illegal or unfair, so it’s important to read the agreement carefully before signing.

Take Your Time

When your loved one is admitted to a nursing home, it can be an emotionally stressful and overwhelming experience. This is especially true if you have to sign a lot of paperwork, including an admission agreement. It can be tempting to rush through this process in order to get the move over with, but it’s important to take your time and be sure you understand everything that is being asked of you.

You should always ask to review the admission agreement before signing it. This will help ensure that you are not agreeing to anything that you do not want or need to. It may also help to have an elder law attorney review the document with you, so that you can make sure your loved one is protected throughout their stay at the facility.

Many nursing homes will try to pressure you into signing the agreement before you even have a chance to read it. This is because the paperwork often contains very complex provisions and jargon. In addition, it’s often very difficult to know if you’re making the right decision or not.

There are two particular things that you should look for in a nursing home admission agreement that you should be wary of: the provision that makes you responsible for the resident’s expenses and a requirement that disputes be resolved through arbitration. By signing an arbitration agreement, you are giving up your rights to take the facility to court in the event that there is a dispute.

A 2009 study found that arbitration awards were 35% lower than cases that went to court. Additionally, arbitration typically can’t be appealed.

If you do end up agreeing to an arbitration clause, be sure to cross it out before signing it. In addition to being illegal, arbitration can be a waste of time and money.

In addition, you should be careful to not agree to a facility’s private pay rate, which is often significantly higher than Medicare or Medicaid rates. This can be an expensive mistake that could put you on the hook for tens of thousands of dollars in debt if you are ever sued for nursing home care.

Don’t Rush

An admission agreement is the document that outlines how your loved one will be treated in a nursing home. It contains information about the basic daily rate, how payments will be handled, and whether or not your loved one can qualify for Medicare and Medicaid. It is also important to look for any disclaimers or limitations on liability.

There is a lot to know about these agreements, and it’s a good idea to have an experienced elder law attorney review them before you sign them. Often, they contain provisions that are illegal or unfair. If you can, try not to sign the agreement until after your loved one has moved in, but even then you may want to ask that any terms that are unfair be deleted.

Another thing to be aware of is the use of an arbitration clause in these agreements. This can limit your rights to sue or seek retribution for any potential harm that occurs in the facility. It is important to understand the pros and cons of arbitration before you make a decision about it.

Many admission agreements include an arbitration agreement, which is a contract that allows the nursing home to settle disputes with residents and their families in mediation rather than in court. This is a controversial issue, as it limits your ability to hold the nursing home accountable for any wrongdoing.

However, many states have decided to use arbitration in these contracts because it is a more efficient way to resolve disputes. And, in some cases, it can be a better way for nursing homes to avoid lengthy, expensive litigation.

Moreover, federal law prohibits a nursing home from requiring that someone other than the resident be financially responsible for care costs. In fact, this is one of the reasons why so many admission agreements include a “responsible party” clause.

The responsible party, typically a family member who is a fiduciary under a power of attorney or conservatorship, is supposed to be responsible for ensuring that the resident has access to funds and to ensure that the resident’s costs are paid.

Don’t Sign as a Co-Signer

Some nursing homes slyly get family members to sign admission agreements for admitted loved ones in order to make the family member legally liable for the costs of care. This could leave you liable for tens of thousands of dollars if your loved one dies in a nursing home.

As a result, you should not sign as a co-signer when signing a nursing home admission agreement. This can place you on the hook for paying any of the nursing home’s bills that the resident is unable to pay themselves, or even for payments that your loved one never paid in the first place.

It is important to understand that this type of financial guarantee is illegal under federal law. Nevertheless, many facilities have found ways to get around this by requiring residents to sign an agreement that makes them a financial agent or “responsible party” for payment of their nursing home bills.

This term is usually inserted into a separate document, but it can also be embedded in the admission agreement. It is important to look over the admission agreement before you sign it. This will help you determine if there are any terms that are illegal, or if any of the provisions are misleading.

For example, some of these admission agreements try to get residents to waive their rights to apply for Medicaid. If a resident becomes eligible for Medicaid later, this can lead to costly disputes with the facility.

Another common problem with these agreements is that they often require the responsible party to make private payments for a period of time as a condition of admission. This is legal under Medicare and Medicaid regulations, but it can create a lot of problems for families who don’t know their loved one’s situation well enough to ensure they are not putting themselves in a financial bind.

This is one of the most important reasons why it’s so crucial to read these agreements carefully before you sign them. You should also try to defer signing them until after the resident has moved into the facility. This gives you more leverage to ask the facility to delete any terms that are illegal or unfair. Two items commonly found in these agreements that you should pay close attention to include a requirement that you be liable for the resident’s expenses and a binding arbitration agreement.

Plan Ahead

If you or your loved one is planning on moving into a nursing home, it is important to plan ahead. This includes reviewing and signing the nursing home admission agreement before you move in. It is a very complex document that can be difficult to read, but it is vitally important to do so.

This is because it will set out the legal relationship between you and the facility. It will also specify the services that the facility promises to provide in exchange for your payments. No matter what any administrator or staff member tells you, the facility is required to provide only those services outlined in the admission agreement.

It is also important to plan ahead if you or your loved one is applying for Medicaid. In order to make this process as seamless as possible, it is important to choose a nursing home that accepts both private pay and Medicaid payments.

Then, you need to communicate in advance with the nursing home that your loved one is going to be applying for Medicaid and that you expect them to refund any private pay payments when they are refunded by the state. This will prevent them from having to switch nursing homes when they become eligible for Medicaid.

You should also consider completing a health care proxy form or an advance directive. This will help you and your family members know your preferences for end-of-life care in case you become unable to communicate.

Once you have completed these forms, give them to the nursing home so that they can record your wishes for future treatment and care. You should also discuss these documents with your physician, nurse practitioner, or social worker so that you can be sure that the nursing home will understand and follow your wishes.

Lastly, never sign an admission agreement that includes a mandatory arbitration clause. This can be a huge liability for you and your loved one. Arbitration agreements are often drafted by the nursing home, and they are more likely to favor the home than your legal rights. This can be especially a problem if you or your loved one is dealing with an abusive staff member.