A new CMS policy is being enforced to reduce abuse of nursing home patients through taking and distributing photos and videos of the vulnerable elderly. State surveyors are inspecting nursing home policies to ensure that there are policies to prevent nursing home employees from taking these actions of abuse. “On August 5, 2016 CMS issued new guidance advising survey teams to request and review facility policies and procedures that prohibit staff from taking, keeping and/or distributing…

One state known to be one of the worst for overusing antipsychotic drugs with dementia patients has some nursing homes trying to reduce the use of these drugs. One nursing home is advocating alternate care and education of staff to combat the excessive use. Patients with dementia receive medication orders for antipsychotic drugs that are not actually approved to treat dementia. Advocates of reducing use of the drugs are promoting focus on the underlying reasons for the behavior attempting t…

Elder abuse on social media is on the rise. Videos posted on various social media sites include caregivers at nursing homes and at homes of their patients hitting and abusing patients. The videos are being posted as entertainment for others, but the unknown victims are only being exploited in their negligent care. “You've got some younger people thinking this is kind of a funny thing, some of them should never be working in a nursing home, and you've got frail seniors, so that&…

A review of nursing home cases involving sexual assault and rape were reviewed by a news syndication. The findings were startling in these cases as it was revealed that nursing homes were slow to investigate, police dismissed claims as unlikely and the state failed to flag patterns. Individuals assaulted experienced horrific moments at the hands of those who were supposed to protect and provide healthcare. Instead, paperwork slipped through the cracks based on employees with histories of se…

Nursing homes in one state may experience increased fines for healthcare violations. The state department of health received criticism last year for leniency in cracking down on violations. .In response, the health department intends to enact the policy of fines “calculated on a per violation per day basis,” rather than a one-time offense. “We took a look at how we were enforcing regulations and what the needs were, and based on all of them came up with new guidance because…

Nursing home patients look forward to visits from a miniature horse that frequents their facility. The volunteers bring the horse with other animals from a farm and make visits all over the state. To the patients’ delights, the horse is outfitted tennis shoes from Build-A-Bear to keep from slipping on the nursing home floors. When the horse first visited, patients were in tears.