Nursing Homes, bringing you the very worst care

Lauren Ellerman

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Not surprising, but when feds report 20% of Nursing homes (a conservative estimate) provide sub-standard care, something needs to be done....

"A total of 20% of nursing homes deliver care that is directly harmful to residents, a government official told federal lawmakers Thursday.

More needs to be done to stop "egregious instances of poor care," said Lewis Morris, Chief Counsel to the Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General. He and others, including long-term care industry representatives, spoke before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. In his statement, Morris said that, while current measures can serve to correct existing problems, they do little to prevent problems from occurring, and that ultimately the onus for improvement of care rests on nursing homes, owners and directors.

He went on to offer some suggestions for new quality-of-care policies: Improve screening of all nursing home staff by creating a nationwide centralized database, create a demonstration project to establish mandatory compliance programs for selected nursing homes, and enhance the quality of care data made available to the nursing home industry and the public by expanding on CMS' Nursing Home Compare Web site."

WELL AMEN... I think they could go a wee bit further - perhaps pass laws were nursing homes have to have insurance, or where criminal prosecutions occur in states were these conditions are known, and yet patients still admitted.... How about staffing requirements? 1 nurse for every 10 patients...