Concerns are increasing as the realization that nursing home ratings rely on self-reported data from nursing homes. The reporting relies heavily on accurate documentation of incidents and can be skewed if incidents go unrecorded, making them ultimately unreported. The CMS uses the self-reporting data generated from nursing home administration to rate the facility on a 1- to 5-star scale.

A recent nursing home closing has sparked attention to research the background of quality care provided at nursing homes. Citations led to a termination of funding, based on a history of abuse including sexual assault. Research supporting the concerns identified 2,000 nursing home residents where 44 percent said they experienced abuse personally and 95 percent said they observed abuse or neglect in other patients.  “There’s a lot of problems you see in nursing homes.

Nursing home patients are searching for other facilities to live with the recent news that the facility they call home will be closing for good. The facility closing is based on deficiencies leading to a point of no return resulting in loss of funding for patients. Without the state aid, patients cannot afford to pay and the facility cannot afford to remain open.

Admissions to a state nursing home facility have been temporarily banned stating that some patients are in “immediate jeopardy” based on deficiencies of care. Patients were left in urine and feces for long periods of time in their beds, on wheelchair cushions, and with catheters. Lack of care led to pressure wounds, sepsis, and staph infections.

A nursing home employee has been indicted for sexually assaulting a patient. The nurse was caught by a co-worker while assaulting a patient. The indictments state “knowingly caused unprivileged physical contact to a 79-year-old resident with dementia”.

A nursing home has been fined more than $60,000 for incidents causing harm to patients, including placing patients in “immediate jeopardy”. One patient in immediate jeopardy had gangrene to the point that maggots were crawling around the site of infection. A toe had to be amputated from the patient.