There sometimes comes a time when the person you love can’t safely be cared for at home, at an assisted living facility, a continuing care retirement community, or any other community type setting. In that situation, 24/7 care at a skilled nursing facility (“nursing home”) may be the only choice. As part of the admission process, the resident (or family members acting for the resident) will be asked to sign a package of admission documents. Almost always, the admission documents include an arbitration agreement. Typically, the arbitration agreement says if any dispute arises between the resident and the nursing home, the dispute will be resolved by private arbitration, not the Court system. Although there sometimes are advantages to private arbitration, that is not always the case. For example, if your family member sustained a physical injury that was preventable, you almost always would want a Judge or a jury to hear your case, not a single arbitrator. Since Connecticut recognizes the legality of an arbitration agreement, if you signed one at the time of admission, you are stuck with arbitration. On September 28, 2016, however, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (“CMS”), a division of a federal agency that has regulatory authority over nursing homes receiving funds from Medicare or Medicaid, banned these pre-dispute arbitration clauses in agreements signed after November 28, 2016. Pre-dispute arbitration clauses in existing admission agreements are not affected by the prohibition. If you are admitting a family member to a nursing home it almost always is advisable to have the admission documents reviewed by an attorney of your choosing before signing anything.