Indiana Long-Term Care Ombudsman: Free Advocacy for Nursing Home and Assisted Living Residents

The nursing home wants to discharge your parent to make room for a higher-paying resident. The assisted living facility changed its fee structure without notice. Your father's call light goes unanswered for 45 minutes every evening. You've complained to management twice, and nothing changed.

This is exactly what the Indiana Long-Term Care Ombudsman program exists for — and it's completely free.

What the Ombudsman Does

The Indiana Long-Term Care Ombudsman is a federally mandated, state-funded advocacy program for residents of nursing homes, residential care facilities (licensed assisted living), and other long-term care settings. The program is administered through the FSSA Division of Aging and operates through regional offices staffed by trained ombudsmen and volunteers.

The Ombudsman's role is to advocate for residents — not facilities. They investigate complaints, mediate disputes, and when necessary, escalate issues to state regulatory agencies.

Contact the Indiana Long-Term Care Ombudsman at 1-800-622-4484.

When to Call the Ombudsman

The Ombudsman handles complaints about:

Care quality issues

• Inadequate assistance with bathing, dressing, eating, or toileting
• Missed medications or medication errors
• Poor wound care or untreated bedsores
• Insufficient staffing, especially on evening and weekend shifts
• Lack of meaningful activities or social engagement

Resident rights violations

• Restricting visitors or phone calls
• Withholding mail or personal belongings
• Retaliation against residents or family members who complain
• Failing to accommodate personal preferences (meal choices, sleep schedules, daily routines)
• Using chemical or physical restraints without proper authorization and documentation

Involuntary discharge or transfer

• The facility pressures your parent to leave because their care needs increased
• Your parent is threatened with discharge for making complaints
• The facility claims they can no longer provide adequate care but hasn't followed proper notice procedures

Financial issues

• Unexplained fee increases without adequate notice
• Charges for services not received
• Failure to return personal funds upon discharge or death

How the Ombudsman Works Differently Than IDOH

The Indiana Department of Health (IDOH) complaint line (1-800-246-8909) handles formal regulatory enforcement — unannounced surveys, citations, and penalties against facilities that violate state licensing standards.

The Ombudsman works differently. They can:

• Investigate informally — visiting the facility, interviewing staff and residents, reviewing care plans and records, and working with management to resolve problems without triggering a formal state investigation
• Attend care plan meetings with or on behalf of a resident
• Represent residents at administrative hearings — particularly important during involuntary discharge proceedings, where the Ombudsman can advocate for the resident's right to stay
• Connect families with other resources — legal aid, APS (for abuse cases), IDOH (for licensing violations), and the state Medicaid office

For many complaints, the Ombudsman route resolves problems faster than a formal IDOH investigation because it works through direct negotiation rather than the regulatory enforcement process.

Involuntary Discharge Protection

One of the Ombudsman's most important functions is protecting residents from being forced out of their facility without proper justification and notice.

Under federal and state regulations, a nursing home can only discharge a resident for specific reasons:

• The resident's health has improved to the point where they no longer need nursing facility care
• The resident's needs cannot be met by the facility
• The health or safety of other residents is endangered
• The resident has failed to pay after reasonable notice
• The facility is closing

Even when one of these conditions applies, the facility must provide 30 days' written notice and inform the resident of their right to appeal the discharge. The Ombudsman can help residents and families understand their appeal rights and represent them through the process.

If your parent is being told they have to leave and you believe the reason is pretextual — for example, the facility wants to fill the bed with a higher-paying private-pay resident — call the Ombudsman immediately.

How to Prepare Before Calling

When you contact the Ombudsman, have the following ready:

1. The name and address of the facility
2. A clear description of the problem (dates, times, names of staff involved if known)
3. What you've already done to try to resolve it (conversations with staff, written complaints, responses received)
4. Your parent's current living situation and care needs
5. Whether your parent has cognitive capacity to participate in the complaint process (if not, note your legal authority — power of attorney, guardianship)

The Ombudsman will assess whether the complaint falls within their scope and determine the best approach — sometimes an informal visit and conversation with the facility administrator is enough; other times, they'll escalate to IDOH or recommend filing a formal regulatory complaint.

Building a Stronger Position Before Problems Start

The families in the strongest position are the ones who research a facility's complaint history before placing their parent there. The IDOH Consumer Reports database and Survey Report System let you review every citation, deficiency, and enforcement action on record for any licensed facility in Indiana.

The Indiana Elder Care Decision Guide walks you through how to read these reports, what severity levels to watch for, and how to compare facilities on care quality — not just amenities and monthly rates.

See more Indiana guides →