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WASHINGTON, DC — June 1, 2007 — In 2006, twenty percent of nursing homes were cited for serious deficiencies or those that caused actual harm to residents, according to a recent report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Because state inspectors understated deficiencies, the number of violations may be greater, the report said. The GAO also found wide variation across the states in how inspectors found and reported nursing home violations and in how they defined quality care.
Although nursing home care has improved somewhat over the last decade, a “small, but significant number of nursing homes” still “repeatedly harmed residents.” The report mentions 63 nursing homes that cycled in and out of compliance with regulations. They received only minimal penalties and all but two were allowed to continue operations. In one Michigan case, for example, a nursing home provided the wrong medication to a resident for three days, lowering blood sugar to dangerous levels that required hospitalization. The nursing home was fined $1,500, when the maximum fine was $10,000. It is still in business despite repeated violations.
Nursing homes are supposed to meet certain quality–of–care and safety requirements in order to take part in Medicare and Medicaid programs. A federal agency, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) contracts with states to inspect nursing homes and investigate complaints. Inspections focus on quality of service, fire safety and building standards, cleanliness, number of accidents and on whether nursing home residents have developed medical problems such as pressure sores and weight loss.
The GAO report acknowledges that the CMS has worked to improve nursing home monitoring. However, the GAO concludes that the “task of ensuring high–quality nursing home care is still not complete.”
The GAO web site contains the full text of two recent nursing home reports—Efforts to Strengthen Federal Enforcement Have Not Deterred Some Homes from Repeatedly Harming Residents and Continued Attention Is Needed to Improve Quality of Care in Small But Significant Share of Homes. You will need to obtain a copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader to open these files. If you do not already have this software, you may download a free copy at the Adobe Acrobat web site.
At Brayton Purcell, we are concerned about the level of care in long–term care facilities. We can help you with problems such as nursing home violations and inadequate pain management issues. If you have questions about a nursing home and your legal rights, or the rights of an elderly loved one, please feel free to contact us for more information.
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