Editorial: It’s a scary time for seniors in nursing homes

Disgraceful is the word that sums up the number of violations that nursing homes in Connecticut are racking up — and troublesome is the White House’s effort to hide those violations under a new set of policies.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which oversees the nursing home industry, recently issued new guidelines that ease what the industry viewed as “overreaching, burdensome and punitive,” but advocates see as “dismantling the enforcement system and making it more difficult and less likely for any enforcement against facilities with serious deficiencies.”

Advocates have good reason to be concerned.

Connecticut issued 73 citations against nursing homes last year, with fines ranging up to $3,000, according to the Department of Public Health. To be fair, that is down from 96 the previous year.
But it is a persistent problem.

The federal government processed some hefty fines for 128 Connecticut nursing homes over the past three years, according to the CMS website, with Apple Rehab Rocky Hill being smacked with fines reaching more than $160,000; Advanced Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation in New Haven shelling out more than $75,000; and Orchard Grove Specialty Care Center in Uncasville fined nearly $50,000.

Nursing homes in Cheshire, East Haven, Hamden, Shelton, Torrington, also have been fined for violations due to lapses of care.

The violations have caused serious — and painful — injuries such as broken and fractured bones. Other violations include abuse and abusive behavior by staff toward patients; medication mix-ups and patients going up to six days without prescribed medications.

We believe these lapses in care highlight the need for more oversight — and we’re not sure how the industry thinks easing regulations is going to lead to less errors.

Those are not the kind of stats that leave seniors or their loved ones feeling confident about the safety and well-being of patients in these facilities.

And it is certainly something to think about in a state where seniors are a burgeoning population and turning 100 is becoming commonplace.

Connecticut has its own nursing home laws and regulations, and assesses fines against facilities that violate them. Under legislation passed in 2017, the limit for fines for each violation quadrupled to $20,000.

We do think that nursing homes have the intention to provide the best service possible for their patients — but we also believe they must pick up their game and do a better job.

Many seniors will have to go into nursing homes as their lives near the end.

They deserve to know they are going into a caring facility, not be in fear of entering one fraught with human error that is costing lives, serious injuries — and fueling fear among seniors.

Matthew Barrett, CEO of the Connecticut Association of Health Care Facilities, which represents more than 150 of the 224 skilled nursing facilities in the state, says the easing of regulations will allow the industry to deliver better services.

The industry has what it wants now, so there should be no excuses. Injuries should drop and better services should be provided. That is what the Connecticut Association of Health Care Facilities promises that less oversight will allow its members to do.

We’ll be watching — because right now, it’s a scary time for seniors in nursing homes.

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Editorial: It’s a scary time for seniors in nursing homes