From My Reading Pile: Nursing Home Problems

I ran across an interesting report about nursing homes as I was working my way through the old reading pile this week.

Individual states are required by the federal government to survey nursing homes each year. The inspections are to ensure that nursing homes provide quality care in a safe environment for our elderly and disabled citizens. To make sure the state inspections are being done properly, the federal government selects some of those nursing homes around the country, performs its own inspection, and compares its results with the state inspection results.

In May 2008, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report of its findings of comparative surveys from 2002 through 2007. The GAO said a substantial number of state surveys completely missed or underreported deficiencies in nursing homes that "had the potential to or did result in harm, death or serious injury to nursing home residents."

In the latest follow-up report issued this week, the GAO said it found 12.3 percent of state surveys missed serious deficiencies, a drop from the 14.7 percent reported in 2007. The GAO also said underreported problems fell to 14.1 percent from 16.5 percent reported in 2007.

I guess that's good news. Now only one in eight incidents that can cause harm or death is being missed, instead of one in seven. And only one in seven incidents is being underreported, instead of one in six.

My question, though, is why are there any incidents that aren't being caught or fully reported by inspectors? Aren't they supposed to be the ones who ensure our loved ones' safety?

If you want a copy of the report, drop me a line at DLS@dlslawfirm.com, or call me at (303) 758-4777. We'll throw in one of our DLS Law SmartKits, too.