iWhen deciding whether to place a loved-one into a nursing home, families attempt to determine whether the nursing home is capable of providing the necessary quality care. Most families visit the nursing home, as well as check the U.S. government’s Nursing Home Compare tool at Medicare.gov.
Despite their efforts, some nursing homes have purposefully misrepresented their ability to care for its residents.
Overstating Staffing Levels
According to the latest updated report from the Center for Public Integrity, over 80% of nursing homes have consistently overstated their staffing levels to Nursing Home Compare in an apparent bid for higher rankings at the site. The report explained that staffing overstatements occurred for all types of nursing positions, but were particularly high for registered nurses—the most skilled and highest paid workers.
The amount of care, especially by registered nurses, is strongly connected to the quality of care provided to nursing home residents. For understaffed facilities, evidence shows increased incidents of—among other critical issues—pressure ulcers, catheterized patients, urinary tract infections; as well as an increased likelihood of death.
Nursing Home Compare: The Goal
The government website’s goal is to assist families in evaluating a nursing home’s ability to provide adequate “skilled-nursing” care, which is care given when you need skilled nursing or rehabilitation staff to manage, observe, or evaluate your care.
A Flawed Self-Reporting Process
The Nursing Home Compare website explains that each nursing home must self-report its staffing hours to its state survey agency and that the reported staffing hours reflect the staffing of RNs, LPNs, CNAs, and PTs from a two-week period just before the state inspection.
The government website displays the self-reported nursing home staffing hours as the number of staff hours per resident per day, which is the total number of hours worked divided by the total number of residents.
It is important to note that the website does not necessarily show the number of nursing staff present at any given time, or reflect the amount of care given to any one resident.
Many nursing homes commit additional human and financial resources to prepare for the state inspections, and as a result, the self-reported staffing levels do not accurately reflect the typical staffing levels in the nursing home. This is particularly important because some nursing homes must provide more nursing staff due to the conditions of their residents, and other factors.
