According to USA Today, Louisiana led the nation in one-star nursing homes. Nearly 39% of its nursing homes ranked one-star compared to the national average of 23% using the Medicare and Medicaid Services rating system. Nursing Home Compare, a service provided by the Medicare and Medicaid Services, provides quality ratings for each of the nation’s 16,000 Medicare and/or Medicaid nursing homes. Each facility is rated from a low one-star to a high, five-star based on health inspection results, quality measures, and staffing levels. Access to a particular nursing home’s rating can be found at Medicare’s web page.
With the population getting older and more people entering nursing homes, it is imperative that nursing homes provide high quality of care. Some of the problems facing nursing homes are finding competent staff and paying them enough to keep them due to limited Medicaid reimbursements.
I applaud the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services for implementing a rating system. It should not be used as the sole criteria in choosing a facility, but as a tool in the decision-making process. Nothing can replace visits to the facility, talking to friends and families of residents, and good old common sense. Taking time to research a particular nursing home will go a long way in preventing injury and neglect to our loved ones.
Richard J. Arsenault, 2011
