Recently, the US Department of Health and Human Services came out with a report that investigated issues of medical care in nursing homes. The results were fairly showing – HHS finds that roughly one in three nursing home patients were harmed by their treatment. Additionally, the study found that most of this harm could have been prevented.
These results should be very alarming for anyone with family or loved ones currently residing in or considering a nursing home. Even more concerning, HHS employee Ruth Ann Dorrill commented that most issues that they discovered were not extreme or rare circumstances, but failures in regular, everyday healthcare.
Although the federal HHS report covers nursing homes across the country, it should be noted that the federal government does not actually inspect nursing homes. Instead, nursing home inspections are done by local state officials. However, with the increased scrutiny offered by this new report, some may be questioning how thoroughly inspections and other quality control measures are being implemented.
The nursing home industry did not debate the findings of the report, however representatives from the American Health Care Association did comment that the report reflects care from 2011 to 2012, while it wasn’t until 2012 that some major improvements in nursing home care quality had been implemented. However, this defense provides little comfort to those who may have already suffered due to poor quality care.
Specifically, nursing home critics have argued that simple and basic issues within many organizations are hurting quality of care. Toby Edelman, an attorney with the Center for Medicare Advocacy, commented that the problems facing nursing homes are primary issues of staffing: not enough nurses, and not enough training.
Do you have a friend, family member, or loved one currently residing in a nursing home? Do you have any reason to suspect they’re not getting quality treatment? Don’t wait until it’s too late to prevent nursing home. Contact the Wormington & Bollinger team today for a free consultation.