Nursing Homes Proposal to Enhance Oversight of Poorly Performing Homes Has Merit

Summary: The Health Care Financing Admin. (HCFA), the federal agency responsible for overseeing the quality of nursing home care, has announced initiatives intended to strengthen enforcement for homes that are found to have repeatedly harmed residents. This report examines whether deficiencies reporting actual harm to residents represent serious problems & the implications of HCFA's proposed action. A random sample of 107 hom...es' annual & complaint surveys were reviewed that included deficiencies of actual harm to one or more residents. These 107 surveys contained a total of 201 isolated actual harm deficiencies. Charts & tables. [read more]