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Recent News

Indiana Nursing Home Resident Dies After Attack At Nursing Home

It was reported this week that a 77-year old Indiana resident of the South Shore Health and Rehabilitation Facility died after an attack by another resident.  Diane Parkinson died on Sunday, March 11th, five days after being struck by a 75-year old resident.  Gary Police Cpl. Gabrielle King says that witnesses told police that Parkinson was out for her morning walk when the man struck her so hard that she fell to the floor.  She was taken to the hospital with facial injuries.

The manner of the death is still under investigation, and although this maybe a unique case with special circumstances regarding what might have provoked this one resident to attack another, it unfortunately, is not an isolated occurrence of violence or abuse at nursing homes.  In fact, the event further highlights the need across the state for improved patient safety at long term nursing facilities.  The South Shore Health and Rehabilitation Facility received a two-star rating out of five, or below average,  from CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid) on its most recent Nursing Home Compare Quality Rating .  Continue reading …

Profits Over Patients: Study Finds Quality Concerns at Largest For-Profit Nursing Homes

A recent study conducted by researchers at UC San Francisco concluded that consumers considering a nursing home should also ask ‘who owns this place’?  The study found that among the nation’s 10 largest for-profit nursing home chains the quality of care delivered to patients was significantly lower than their non-for-profit counterparts.  The main reason: staffing levels were lower and thus deficiencies were higher.  Low staffing levels are a concern because they are considered the strongest predictor of poor nursing home quality.

The study, the first of its kind to focus on staffing and quality at the ten largest nursing home chains, found that total nursing hours were lower in these chain’s home than any other group.  Additionally, the number of “deficiencies” were 36 percent higher, and “serious deficiencies” were 41 percent higher for homes managed by the large for-profit nursing home chains.  Deficiencies can include failure to prevent pressure sores, falls, infections, improper nutrition, resident abuse or mistreatment, and poor sanitary conditions.  Continue reading …

Indiana Lawmakers Take Action on Nursing Home 911 Calls

Indiana state senator Patricia Miller has proposed legislation that would require nursing homes to call the nearest medical emergency team to respond in urgent situations.  The proposed legislation is in response to news coverage late last year regarding the untimely death of Barbara Parcel, who was a victim of her nursing home’s system to only use their contracted EMS service and not the closest.  Continue reading …

Investigative Report: Indiana Nursing Homes’ failure to call 911 Leaves Patients At Risk

Indianapolis – Indiana nursing home patients are being put at risk in emergency situations because of a practice allowing the homes to call private ambulance services instead of using 911.  A recent investigation by Indianapolis News Station WTHR uncovered that even in emergency situations, nursing homes were calling private ambulance services, leaving their residents to wait extended periods of time for emergency help.The 13 Investigation team found that in the case of Barbara Parcel, a resident at  Kindred Healthcare’s Wildwood Healthcare, the decision to not use 911 emergency services was fatal.  The report indicates on March 5th Barbara began to show signs of suffering a heart-attack.  Yet emergency 911 services were not contacted by the nursing home, rather the first call went to private ambulance service Care Ambulance.  At the time, Care’s crew for the westside was unavailable so they scrambled to use a crew from their Indianapolis downtown location, increasing the response time by over 20 minutes.  By the time Barbara arrived at the nearest local hospital it was too late to save her.  Continue reading … 

Indiana Nursing Home, Ambassador Health, Fined by State for Substandard Quality of Care

In another example of the breakdown in the quality of care provided by Indiana’s nursing homes, the Indiana Department of Health has fined Ambassador Health of Centerville $4,100 with the potential of additional fines as to be determined by the state for each rule violation cited.  The fine was the result of a report where the ISDH cited the facility for substandard quality of care and immediate jeopardy to a patient resulting from a March 2, 2011 incident where a patient was abandoned on a bus for more than five hours in nearly freezing temperatures.

The quality of care at Indiana’s nursing homes has been the subject of scrutiny since a study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office reported it was among the worst in the nation.  In the August 2009 study it was shown that 52 out of the 580 worst performing nursing homes were in Indiana – more than in any other state.  Further, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid have reported that only 57 of the nearly 500 nursing homes in Indiana are without deficiencies, and as in the example with this most recent incident, 46 have been cited with deficiencies involving immediate jeopardy to the patient.   Continue reading…

Is Your Loved One’s Nursing Home Employing Staff with a Criminal Background?

With nursing home neglect and abuse occurring with alarming frequency in Indiana and across the United States, the nursing home companies to whom families entrust their loved ones should be closely examining who they are putting in charge of taking care of the vulnerable patients for whom they are responsible.  Unfortunately, the evidence shows they are not.A report released earlier this month by the Department of Health & Human Services, Office of the Inspector General found that more than 90% of nursing homes in the US employ one or more people who have been convicted of at least one crime.  The study was conducted to determine the extent that nursing facilities employed individuals with criminal convictions.  According to federal regulations Medicare & Medicaid nursing facilities are prohibited from employing those individuals who have been found guilty of neglecting, or mistreating residents by a court of law, or who have a finding entered into the State nurses registry concerning abuse, neglect, or misappropriation of property.   Continue reading…