The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Nursing, Harris County long-term Care Mediation

Mission Statement
The Long-Term Care Mediation Program offers free, on-site mediation at nursing homes and assisted living facilities in Harris County.

What is Long Term Care Mediation?
Mediation is an option to resolve a dispute in a nursing home or assisted living. It is a process by which a neutral individual (the mediator) facilitates communication between parties facing a difficult issue. It is an opportunity for you and the others involved to tell your story, respond to each other, and resolve your concerns. It is not a binding arbitration. Participation is voluntary.

Breaking Down Barriers to Access
For years local dispute resolution centers have offered free mediation services to the community as a means of settling legal disputes. Typically, parties to a lawsuit seek mediation as a faster, less expensive alternative to resolving their differences in court. Mediation can be especially effective in resolving disputes where the parties anticipate a continued working relationship, such as professional caregiving.

Although mediation services are readily available to low-income disputants in lawsuits at little or no cost, people receiving long-term care in institutional settings have traditionally been unable to access those services. Barriers to access include:
• limited availability of appropriate transportation for medically frail seniors
• cultural differences unique to institutional care settings
• shortage of mediators familiar with resident rights & federal/state regulations governing nursing home care.

This program eliminates these barriers through a co-mediation model tailored to accommodate issues unique to facility-based care disputes. Other facets of the program include identifying and training participating volunteer facilities; recruitment and cross-training of mediators; and development of an intake process sensitive to residents' needs.

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