A Southeast man contacted the Ombudsman on behalf of his disabled brother who was trying to get into a nursing home for care. The brother had applied for Medicaid but his application had not yet been processed. When space became available for the brother in a nursing home the brother’s family was told that space would only be held for two weeks. The brother’s family members said they repeatedly called Medicaid’s Long-Term Care line, but they sat on hold for hours without getting through to a live person, and there was no option to leave a message. The Ombudsman called the phone numbers provided by the family with similar results. She then called an office supervisor and explained the situation. The supervisor assigned the application for review and it was approved three days later, allowing the brother to move into the nursing home. The Ombudsman suggested DPA add an option for callers to leave a voice mail for the long-term care Medicaid section to prevent this problem from happening again in the future. (J2015-0062)
