Study shows profit driven facilities provide less care
Anderson Independent Mail posted an article by Lee Bowman and Thomas Hargrove/Scripps Howard News Service about a statistical analysis of the federal government’s first-ever ratings of nearly 16,000 nursing homes. The study revealed some comon sense conclusions including an uneven level of quality across the nation and shows how complicated it is to find a good nursing home.
The Scripps Howard analysis of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Nursing Home Compare system shows that:
In Institutions run by for-profit corporations, which account for about two-thirds of all nursing homes, generally get lower scores than those run by nonprofits groups.
Homes with more nursing staff per patient, which also tend to be run by nonprofit groups, generally do better in the ratings.
Homes with more than 100 beds tend to get lower scores in all categories, including health of residents and levels of nursing care.
Ratings are lowest in Southern states, particularly for nursing care and registered-nurse staffing, and highest for homes in the Northeast.
Slightly more than 20 percent of nursing homes nationwide have been regularly given the lowest ratings, and 12 percent to 13 percent have received the top rating.
While more than 500,000 Americans die in nursing homes each year, more than 2 million return home after a nursing-home stay of less than three months.
CMS collects data on all nursing homes that care for Medicare or Medicaid patients and displays the information at www.medicare.gov/NHCompare. The system, implemented late last year, includes everything from fire safety and food preparation to rates of residents suffering from bedsores. Even CMS officials agree that while the same criteria are used for the inspections, the focus and depth of the assessments may be different from state to state, so the ratings of different facilities should not be compared across state lines.
The rating system is on a scale from one star to five stars. Five stars indicate that a nursing home ranks “much above average,” four stars are “above average,” three are “about average,” two are “below average” and one is “much below average.” Rankings are updated every three months, and some data are revamped monthly.
There are about 15,700 nursing facilities listed on Nursing Home Compare.
Health-care advocates say data on nursing-staff levels — self-reported by home administrators and including time spent on administrative chores as well as actual patient care — don’t give a clear picture of the care being provided.
“Even though we’re skeptical about some of the information, it’s the best starting point available for research,’' she said. “But people need to understand that the stars may not reflect what they’ll find inside a facility. “Unfortunately, for many families, they’re lucky if they get 24 or 48 hours before a (hospital) discharge to make a decision. That’s not enough time to do much homework, but at least the ratings and the other information on the site might help you rule some facilities out.”
