Today, Medicare and Medicaid services published a list on their website of the 54 poorest performing nursing homes in America (click here for the full list). These nursing homes come from 33 states and the District of Columbia.
CMS has published this list in an effort to encourage these homes to improve their services, which have failed to improve even after being cited for deficiencies.
One of the homes on the list will be Franklin Hills Health and Rehab Center in Spokane, Washington. This facility's administrator, Brian Teed, said he doesn't have a problem with Medicare publishing the list, but wants to remind people that regional differences affect how nursing homes are graded. In other words, the home he manages in Spokane, which got a poor rating within Washington, might have gotten a good rating if it had been in Alabama, for example.
Every nursing home that receives federal funding must be inspected once a year. That inspection includes an analysis on whether or not the patients are being given their proper medicine, bathed properly, engaged in daily activities, and it also takes into account preventable accidents and infections.
According to a story by the Associated Press, titled Government Outs Some Nursing Homes, 1.5 million elderly people live in nursing homes, and taxpayers spend almost $72.5 billion a year to pay for the cost of nursing home care.
Check out Medicare and Medicaid's websites TODAY for the list of homes who are not living up to appropriate standards when taking care of your elders. Or, click here for the full list of poorly performing nursing homes.
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