Nursing Home Citations Up 22% Nationwide

Randy Walton

Contributor

0 CommentsPrint ArticleSubscribe

Recent studies show that citations for serious violations issued against nursing homes is up 22% nationwide.

A USA Today analysis, examining records from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, shows that from 2000 through 2006, the number of citations for putting patients in "immediate jeopardy" had increased 22%. Those citations are considered the most serious and often follow cases in which patients were physically or sexually abused or left without medications.

Inspectors found nearly 2,000 violations last year that jeopardized patients at nearly 850 of the nation's 16,000 nursing homes, according to the records. They account for about 6% of the total violations uncovered in nursing homes.

New York issued 131 immediate jeopardy citations last year, up from 41 in 2000. This year it cited one home for not stopping two elderly patients from hitting others, and another for not doing enough to check on patients who fell down, a common source of nursing home injuries.

"We have a new mind-set," said Jeffrey Hammond of the New York health department. "It's not that the quality of care has gone down, but we are being more rigorous in our enforcement."

As expected, the industry is nonplussed. The CEO of the American Health Care Association said in a statement that care is improving despite the increase in serious citations. Figure that one out.