The not-for-profit journalism organization ProPublica has done a fantastic job compiling the national nursing home information available through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). For the first time, families have access to a resource that can help them take steps to ensure their loved ones are in a safe nursing home environment.
The state of Kentucky averages almost two serious deficiencies in every nursing home. Serious deficiencies would include violations that resulted in serious injury or the immediate likelihood of terrible harm.
New Mexico, Louisiana, and South Carolina join Kentucky as the four states with the greatest number of serious deficiencies in their nursing homes. Illinois averages one serious deficiency for every two nursing homes in the state.That’s near the middle of the pack, but far too high in my opinion. Pennsylvania only has one serious deficiency for every 50 nursing homes in the state.
A common refrain from people who resist strong nursing home regulation and is to allow the market to decide the fate of nursing homes. If residents or families are not satisfied with the care provided, they should move. What that theory fails to take into account is that not every family has the ability to be able to easily move their loved ones to another facility.
In many rural areas, there is often only a single nursing home within many miles. That might seem impossible to someone from a more populated area, but in the midwest and the west there are still many vast expanses of extremely sparsely populated area.
Even in more urban areas, moving loved ones out of substandard nursing homes can be very difficult. People own fewer cars in more urban areas. They rely on public transportation systems to visit nursing homes. Moving a short distance geographically can easily add an hour or more of travel time if it includes a train or bus transfer.
Nursing homes need to provide quality care to all residents. If you have a loved one who has been seriously injured in an Illinois nursing home, and you feel that he or she was a victim of nursing home neglect, contact our Chicago nursing home lawyers for a free and confidential evaluation of your case.
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