The U.S. government’s 5-Star ratings of the nations nursing homes are in! While these results are not as glamorous as the Oscars or the Grammys… okay, they are not glamorous at all, but they are significantly more meaningful than entertainment awards, and they affect more of us much more directly. Currently, about 7.5% of Americans …
A Fayetteville, North Carolina, hospital is at risk of losing it’s funding from Medicaid and Medicare tonight in response to the death of a mentally ill patient.
Good news for disabled and elderly people who require personal care services: A federal judge has stopped North Carolina from ending services for some Medicaid recipients who receive in-home care. According to an article in the News & Observer, the state Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) had recently increased eligibility requirement for personal …
Here’s a good news story: The health-care overall championed by President Barack Obama’s administration has saved Medicare recipients about $1.5 billion since it went into effect in January 2011. This amounts to an average savings benefit to the elderly of about $569 per person. According to a story on Bloomberg.com: “Millions of Americans are receiving …
In The New York Times, reporter Jane Gross wrote a fascinating opinion piece about Medicare. She calls it the “dirty little secret of health care in America”: That while we assume that Medicare provides universal health care coverage for the elderly, what Medicare actually covers isn’t what recipients want or actually need. With all the …
A commentary in the latest issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) talks about the common problem facing nursing home residents: Unnecessary hospitalizations due to untrained nurses or substandard medical protocol when an elderly resident becomes ill. According to the articles authors, Dr. Joseph G. Ouslander and Dr. Robert A. Berenson: More than …
The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care (also known simply as “Consumer Voice”) is an organization that advocates for public policies that support quality care, and empowers and educates consumers and families. Recently, the Consumer Voice published a report called The High Cost of Poor Care: The Financial Case for Prevention in American Nursing Homes. …
The New York Times published an eye-opening article about how some antipsychotic drugs given to the elderly are dangerous, and even potentially lethal. Nearly one in seven elderly nursing home residents, nearly all of them with dementia, are given powerful atypical antipsychotic drugs even though the medicines increase the risks of death and are not approved …
For years we’ve been telling you about the Nursing Home Compare 5-star ratings posted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The ratings help consumers evaluate the quality and safety of nursing homes across the country. Today, CMS has made three changes to Nursing Home Compare: Information about how consumers can file complaints …
Exciting Changes to Nursing Homes Compare Website Read More »
How does your loved one’s nursing home measure up? The latest 5-star ratings are now available. The government’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have the latest nursing home ratings available on its website… the same ratings soon to be published by U.S. News & World Report magazine. The Five-Star Quality Rating System was created to …