HHS Finds Nursing Homes Failing Badly

The HHS Office of Inspector General has found that in each of the past three years, over 91% of nursing homes surveyed were cited for deficiencies, and a greater percentage of for-profit nursing homes were cited than not-for-profit and government nursing homes. The most common deficiency categories cited were quality of care, resident assessment, and quality of life. In 2007, 17% of nursing homes surveyed were cited for actual harm or immediate jeopardy deficiencies, and 3.6% were cited for substandard quality-of-care deficiencies.

In Connecticut, a whopping 98.7% of nursing homes were cited, up from 97.4% the previous year and 95.6% in 2005. In Rhode Island, 76.3% were cited for deficiencies, down from 86.8% in 2006. The average number of deficiencies per home in Connecticut increased from 8 in 2005 to 9 in 2007, while in Rhode Island the average per home was only 2.5 in 2007, down from 3.5 in 2006 and 4.9 in 2005.