Friday, March 1, 2013

Medicare paid $5.1B for poor nursing home care


SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Medicare paid billions in taxpayer dollars to nursing homes nationwide that were not meeting basic requirements to look after their residents, government investigators have found.

The report, released Thursday by the Department of Health and Human Services' inspector general, said Medicare paid about $5.1 billion for patients to stay in skilled nursing facilities that failed to meet federal quality of care rules in 2009, in some cases resulting in dangerous and neglectful conditions.

One out of every three times patients wound up in nursing homes that year, they landed in facilities that failed to follow basic care requirements laid out by the federal agency that administers Medicare, investigators estimated.

By law, nursing homes need to write up care plans specially tailored for each resident, so doctors, nurses, therapists and all other caregivers are on the same page about how to help residents reach the highest possible levels of physical, mental and psychological well-being.

Not only are residents often going without the crucial help they need, but the government could be spending taxpayer money on facilities that could endanger people's health, the report concluded. The findings come as concerns about health care quality and cost are garnering heightened attention as the Obama administration implements the nation's sweeping health care overhaul.

Full Article & Source:
Medicare paid $5.1B for poor nursing home care

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

People need to know this.$5.1 billion is a hefty amount and if it's used to help peole, we're all for that. But, if it provided shoddy care, then Medicare should be following up on the facilities.

Outraged in IL said...

CAUTION: Nursing Homes are not the only facilities with SKILLED NURSING UNIT / REHAB UNIT.

I hope the Inspector General included SKILLED NURSING REHAB UNITS within the struction, related to the hospital where they were a patient but the patient is released from the hospital and admitted to SNU - now comes the maze of who has authority? It appears no one does - why?

Inspector General needs to include this LIMBO area where many patients go prior to being transferred to another facility if that is the care plan.

I hope the IG included those statistics because that might be an area that is going unnoticed but needs to be specifically addressed, an area that needs scrutiny.

And keep in mind, according to Illinois maze of Illinois Department of Public Health when hosptial patient is in SNU unit, the patient really isn't a patient of the hosptial leaving him/her unaware he/she is in LIMBO where nobody is looking.

The SNU are of the hospital is not part of the state's agency jurisdiction - did you know that? It's as if it's an anything goes free zone.

How do I know? Personal experience with no satisfactory answers or conclusions.

BEWARE and BE AWARE.


".....The report, released Thursday by the Department of Health and Human Services' inspector general, said Medicare paid about $5.1 billion for patients to stay in SKILLED NURSING FACILITIES that failed to meet federal quality of care rules in 2009, in some cases resulting in dangerous and neglectful conditions.

One out of every three times patients wound up in nursing homes that year, they landed in facilities that failed to follow basic care requirements laid out by the federal agency that administers Medicare, investigators estimated.

By law, nursing homes need to write up care plans specially tailored for each resident, so doctors, nurses, therapists and all other caregivers are on the same page about how to help residents reach the highest possible levels of physical, mental and psychological well-being....."