An article in today's New York Times examines that report, interesting leaving out one item: I see no mention of the incredible amount of money the nursing home industry pours into the campaign coffers of both Democratic and Republican candidates.
As usual, those who pay out the big bucks are treated with kid gloves and a respect that is not shown to the average citizen:
The Government Accountability Office said federal health officials hesitated to impose fines of more than $200 a day, in part because they believed that larger penalties "could bankrupt some homes." Fines are generally so small that nursing homes view them as a "cost of doing business," with "no more effect than a slap on the wrist," the report said.
In the rare cases when federal officials try to exclude a nursing home from Medicaid and Medicare, the home often avoids the penalty by making temporary improvements and then lapsing back into noncompliance, the investigators said.
Under federal policy, the government is supposed to take immediate enforcement action against nursing homes that repeatedly cause "actual harm" to patients. But the accountability office said "immediate sanctions are often not immediate" because the Bush administration gives homes a grace period.
As a result, "the immediate sanctions policy does not appear to deter homes from harming residents in the future," the report said, and "some homes with the worst compliance histories escape immediate sanctions."
Website for nursing home comparison.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.medicare.gov/NHCompare/Include/DataSection/Questions/SearchCriteria.asp?version=default&browser=IE%7C6%7CWinXP&language=English&defaultstatus=0&pagelist=Home&CookiesEnabledStatus=True
In case the link doesn't work, go to
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/default.asp?
click on quality of care center
at the quality of care center you click on nursing home quality initiative
scroll down to the bottom and click on nursing home compare
Insert state, county, city, or zip code
It won't tell you everything, but it does give you an idea.
Randy_ Do you really know anything about nursing homes. Sure it is easy to believe what one person has to say. I am a Director of Nursing at a local nursing home. I work my A** off to make sure all of my resident's are taken care of. They all receive better care than half of the elderly and disabled population living at home and are treated with the respect and dignity the elderly population deserve. I live everyday in fear that some MINOR infraction will result in the loss of my resident's home and the jobs of all my employess, not to mention my own licence. I would never willingly harm another person, nor would I have anyone in my building who would cause actual harm to another person. Yet the slightest skin tear to their fragile skin or bruise due to the use of anticoagulant medication makes us fear that someone will scream abuse. During the power outage in January. My staff as well as myself braved the icy roads and other hazards, leaving our families at home to make sure our "grandma's and grandpa's" were warm, clean, and taken care of. How dare you insinuate that we do not care if our names are run into the mud. How dare you indicate that we are uncaring. We often donate more than half our day to care for people that no one else want's to or are able to care for. I can go into my building and tell you what each of my 90 some resident like to do, what they like to eat, what their favorite music is, etc. It is with love and compassion that I do what I do and why thousands of others working in nursing homes around the nation do what they do. It is only when we have been told time after time that no matter what we do, or how much time we pour into doing it that we become discouraged and wonder why. Why do we do this day after day if everyone ignores the good and only looks for evil. Thank you for perking up my day.
ReplyDeleteRandy, sorry about the link and the way it distorts the page, please delete the link. Detailed instructions below the link should get anyone interested there.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, I'm sure you work hard. Which infraction would you consider minor? JCAHO, HCFA and state requirements tend to be strict for a reason. As you, yourself noted, seemingly minor infractions can have serious consequences for the fragil and helpless. BTW, I notice Primaris is Missouri's quality improvement organization.
If you are interested, Randy, you can go to
http://www.primaris.org/professionals/products.asp
and click on nursing homes for information about the standards they expect.
Missouri statutes covering nursing homes can be found at
http://www.moga.mo.gov/statutesearch/
Chapter 198
By the way, I notice that they are required to "post their most recent inspection report in a conspicuous place". Its been long enough that I had forgotten that, but next time you go into a nursing home, you might want to look around for that puppy. By the way, Randy, I doubt you're interested in wading through all the governmental and legalese, but if you really want I can find the federal statutes for nursing homes as well.
Anonymous, if you are a director, then you have to acknowledge the fact that the rules, statues, and infraction penalties exist because they have occurred; maybe not in your nursing home but they certainly have occurred. If you are indeed running a quality establishment, you aren't going to worry about losing your license due to inspections. You don't lose licensing of nursing homes for minor infractions. You lose them for the biggies. Your statement is misleading and you might want to reconsider going there.