Harris County Long Term Care Mediation pilot

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Overview

As the population ages, it is more common than ever to hear that a friend or family member is struggling with difficult caregiving decisions for an older loved one in a nursing home. While mediation has proven to be an effective process for clarifying issues and settling other types of disputes, until now institutionalized adults and their families facing conflict have not enjoyed access to the mediation process.

The Long Term Care Mediation Pilot program, the first of its kind in Texas, offers free, on-site mediation at participating facilities in Harris County.

The goal of the pilot is to introduce the benefits of mediation into nursing homes and assisted living by tailoring the process to address the needs of facility residents.

Long term care mediation encourages conflict resolution through neutral fact-finding in a safe and confidential setting. A third-party neutral facilitator (the mediator) ensures the wishes of the older adult, family members, and other health care staff can be heard and considered.

The Harris County Ombudsman Long Term Care Program housed at the University of Texas-Houston, Center on Aging is supporting the expansion of mediation into nursing and assisted living facilities.

Working hand in hand with the Harris County Dispute Resolution Center, which already has a pool of experienced family mediators, the pilot employs a cross-training model. Some community-based mediators are trained in long term care and aging issues and some certified volunteer ombudsmen are trained as mediators. This produces a qualified pool of mediators available to serve as co-mediators in long term care facility disputes. The program’s use of a cross-trained co-mediation team makes it the first of its kind in the nation.

To avoid any conflict of interest, a community mediator will be substituted for an ombudsman mediator in those disputes where the facility is a party to the dispute. In instances where the dispute is between residents and/or family members a co-mediator model consisting of one community mediator and one ombudsman mediator is used.

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