The federal government today uploaded details of an
additional 70,000 problems at nursing homes nationwide, and we’ve included them
in our Nursing Home
Inspect tool that lets users easily examine trends at the facilities.
Nursing Home Inspect now has information on almost 217,000
deficiencies identified by government inspectors. Until now, the U.S. Centers for Medicare
and Medicaid Services (CMS) had
only put online narrative details of these deficiencies from a home’s
most-recent routine inspection, called a standard survey, as well as 16 months
of complaint inspections.
What’s changed is that CMS has now included the details of a
home’s three most recent routine inspections. For many homes, that means
results from 2009 and 2010 are now available online. Previously, they had only
been available by filing at Freedom of Information request.
News
organizations around the nation have used Nursing Home Inspect to identify
issues at homes in their area.
Nursing
Home Inspect allows users to search all inspection reports by keyword —
such as injuries,
MRSA
or ignore— to look for problems that may appear across
the country. Results can be sorted by state or severity level. Our tip
sheet offers suggestions about how to get the best search results.
Nursing home industry officials have cautioned that although
the reports can be of value when choosing a home, they are only a snapshot and
don’t highlight good practices in the home. The American Health Care
Association, a nursing home industry group, has launched a program that each
year recognizes
homes it says are working to improve the quality of care.
