How to check a community's record yourself
The Ohio Department of Health licenses and inspects both Residential Care Facilities (assisted living) and nursing homes, and its survey and complaint history is public record. Before you tour, ask the community for its most recent state inspection report directly, and ask ODH's Bureau of Regulatory Operations how to request survey history for a specific facility if the community does not provide it. For skilled nursing specifically, Medicare's Care Compare tool publishes CMS star ratings that assisted living and memory care communities do not receive — assisted living in Ohio is not star-rated the way nursing homes are, so a clean online review page is not a substitute for the actual inspection record.
To report a concern about a licensed facility directly to the state (separate from the resident advocacy the long-term care ombudsman provides -- see below), contact the Ohio Department of Health. For a suspected case of abuse, neglect or exploitation of an adult, use your county's Adult Protective Services line rather than the facility licensing line -- the two handle different things.
What to actually look at once you are in there
Pulling the record is easy. Reading it usefully is the part nobody explains.
- Match the license type to your parent's needs, not just to today. Ask directly about admission and retention criteria.
- Check the licensee name against the operator. Ownership turns over regularly, and buildings are often marketed under a brand that differs from the license holder.
- Read deficiency narratives, do not count citations. A missing signature and an injured resident can appear in the same document, formatted identically.
- Look for repetition across surveys. One citation is an incident. The same finding across consecutive surveys is a pattern.
