News
GAO Report Finds Nursing Home Inspectors Miss Serious Violations
Posted on Jan 29, 2009
Despite strict regulations of nursing homes, residents continue to suffer serious injuries and die due to abuse and neglect. Congress is investigating the effectiveness of the nursing home regulations. A report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found that inspectors miss 15% of the most serious violations. These are often life threatening violations like failing to provide adequate nutrition and hydration (food and water) to residents.
In addition to hunger and thirst that naturally comes from inadequate nutrition and hydration, patients are highly prone to deadly infections, pressure sores, falls, and other serious injuries. There are over 16,000 nursing homes caring for 1.5 million Americans. One-fifth of the nursing homes were cited for serious violations. When you add in the number of violations that were missed, it becomes clear that we have a crisis in nursing home care.
Senators Charles Grassley and Herbert Kohl have introduced legislation to raise the fines against nursing homes. Currently, nursing homes can not be fined more than $10,000 regardless of the seriousness of the injury to the patient. The proposed legislation will raise the maximum fine to $25,000 for serious violations and $100,000 for the death of a patient. Equally important, the legislation will increase the transparency of owners of the nursing home. Shockingly, inspectors struggle to identify the owners of a nursing home whose identities are often hidden behind several shell corporations. This legislation is expected to be voted upon in June 2008. Please return to our website for further updates.
