94% of Nursing Homes Violate Resident's Rights
A recent report published by Daniel R. Levinson, the Inspector General of the United StatesDepartment of Health and Human Services has revealed staggering deficiencies in our nursing home system. Ninety-four percent of nursing homes nationwide were cited for violations of federal health and safety standards in the last year. Seventeen percent of the facilities had deficiencies that caused "actual harm or immediate jeopardy" to patients. In the past year, 37,150 complaints concerning nursing home conditions were filed and 39% of those complaints were substantiated. Complaints included problems such as infected bedsores, medication errors, poor nutrition, and abuse and neglect of our most vulnerable citizens.
Problems were more likely to be found in for-profit homes and approximately two-thirds of our nation's nursing homes are owned by for-profit companies. Twenty-seven percent of nursing homes are owned by nonprofit organizations and a mere six percent are owned by government entities. Ninety-four percent of the for-profit facilities were cited with deficiencies, while eighty-eight percent of nonprofit homes and ninety-one percent of government homes were cited.
Daniel Levinson issued a compliance guide for nursing homes that states that some homes "have systematically failed to provide staff in sufficient numbers and with appropriate clinical expertise to serve their residents". Cases were found where nursing homes billed Medicare or Medicaid for services that were not provided or were so poorly provided that it "amounted to no care at all". As Medicare pays a fixed daily amount for each nursing home resident and facilities with severely ill patients receive a higher payment, some nursing homes had erroneously classified patients or exaggerated their illnesses in order to claim a larger payment.
In December 2008, the Bush Administration will begin utilizing a Five Star System to rate the standard of care, with five stars being the best care. These rankings will be published on a federal web site.
