Business Description:

The National Long-Term Care Ombudsman Resource Center (NORC) provides support, technical assistance and training to the 53 State Long-Term Care Ombudsman Programs and their statewide networks of almost 600 regional (local) programs. The Center’s objectives are to enhance the skills, knowledge, and management capacity of the State programs to enable them to handle residents’ complaints and represent resident interests (individual and systemic advocacy). Funded by the Administration on Aging(AoA), the Center is operated by Consumer Voice, The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care, in cooperation with the National Association of States United for Aging and Disabilities (NASUAD)

Long-term care ombudsmen are advocates for residents of nursing homes, board and care homes and assisted living facilities. Ombudsmen provide information about how to find a facility and what to do to get quality care. They are trained to resolve problems. If you want, the ombudsman can assist you with complaints. However, unless you give the ombudsman permission to share your concerns, these matters are kept confidential. Under the federal Older Americans Act, every state is required to have an Ombudsman Program that addresses complaints and advocates for improvements in the long-term care system.

The ombudsman program is administered by the Administration on Aging (AoA).  The network has 8,813 volunteers certified to handle complaints and 1,167 paid staff. Most state ombudsman programs are housed in their State Unit on Aging.  Nationally, in 2011 the ombudsman program investigated over 200,463 complaints on behalf of 131,078 individuals and provided information on long-term care to another 288,698 people.

Address:

NORC
1001 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 425
Washington, DC 20036

Website:

www.ltcombudsman.org

Contact:

Office:  (202)332.2275

Email: [email protected]