The woes of nursing homes and, more importantly, those in their care continue. Already facing a major reform bill in Congress that has divided the industry, nursing homes came under fire this afternoon in a new report from the Government Accountability Office.
The GAO review of state-level nursing home inspections found that inspectors regularly overlooked major code violations in the care facilities. In reviews conducted from 2002 to 2007, federal inspectors found that their state-level counterparts missed violations of the gravest nature—those that could put a nursing home resident in immediate jeopardy and inflict actual harm—15 percent of the time. The potential for less serious harm was found in 70 percent of the federal reviews.
The report was requested by the Senate's Special Committee on Aging, which has been spearheading reform in the nursing home industry. The report, filed to the committee today, concludes that "poor quality of care—worsening pressure sores or untreated weight loss—in a small but unacceptably high number of nursing homes continues to harm residents or place them at risk of death or serious injury."
—Bret Schulte
Reader Comments Read all comments (8)
Michelle Kerschner of IA 9:41PM July 05, 2009
Jerry Rowe of TN 10:14AM January 23, 2009
please of AL 9:53PM November 01, 2008