Almost All Nursing Homes Cited for Violations

October 2008

A report issued on nursing homes in the United States revealed that 94 percent of the facilities were cited for violations of federal health and safety standards last year. Furthermore, almost 20 percent had violations that caused "actual harm or immediate jeopardy" to patients.

Infected bedsores, medication mix-ups, poor nutrition, and abuse and neglect of patients were all among the deficiencies that put patients' health at risk. The report, written by the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services, Daniel R. Levinson, found that inspectors received 37,150 complaints about conditions in nursing homes last year. About 39 percent of the complaints were substantiated, one-fifth of which involved the abuse or neglect of patients.

Over 1.5 million people live in 15,000 nursing homes across the nation. The government plans on implementing a new nursing home rating system in December. Homes will be scored according to a five-star scale and the rankings will be published on a federal web site.