January 28, 2026 – Over the course of 2025, the Elder Justice Newsletter, a collaboration of the Long Term Care Community Coalition and the Center for Medicare Advocacy, dropped six hard-hitting issues exposing dangerous patterns in U.S. nursing homes where regulators identified serious care failures yet failed to identify the harmful impacts on residents. These “no harm” citations, and the low rate of identifying resident harm nationwide, raise a blunt question: Who are the state oversight agencies protecting, residents or providers?

Highlights from 2025 (Volume 7):

  • When Five Stars Aren’t Enough – Even top-rated facilities fail to protect residents.
  • The Troubling Truth Behind ‘Average’ Care – Three-star nursing homes show alarming care gaps.
  • Below the 3.48 Staffing Minimum – Substandard care persists without consequence.
  • Elder Abuse Awareness – Abuse and neglect that went unnoticed.
  • Transfer and Discharge – Residents discharged without essential support.
  • Special Focus Failures – Repeated violations in high-risk homes.

Why it Matters:

Labeling serious nursing home violations as “no harm” doesn’t just downplay risk; it reshapes reality. When inspectors document failures involving abuse, neglect, unsafe discharges, or untreated wounds and conclude no resident was harmed, facilities avoid penalties, patterns go untracked, and dangerous conditions persist. Volume 7 shows how this practice weakens enforcement, misleads families, and leaves residents exposed to repeat harm – often in facilities the public is told are “average” or even “high-performing.”

These are not isolated incidents. They are systematic warning signs in a regulatory framework that too often protects providers instead of people. Every citation tells a story.

Opportunity:

Journalists, advocates, policy-markers, and ombudsmen are invited to review 2025’s Volume 7 and contact LTCCC for interview opportunities, local story leads, or national trend analysis.

Elder Justice Newsletter archives and individual Volume 7 issues are available at nursinghome411.org/elder-justice.