Federal Data Indicate That Longstanding Problems Are Systematically Ignored or Downgraded by the State Agencies Charged With Protecting Residents
Contact: Richard Mollot, richard@ltccc.org, 212-385-0356
October 29, 2021 – Today the Long Term Care Community Coalition (LTCCC) is releasing a new report, Broken Promises: An Assessment of Federal Data on Nursing Home Oversight, providing the results of a new study on the effectiveness of state and federal efforts to ensure that nursing home residents are safe and treated with dignity. With the generous support of The New York Community Trust, LTCCC researchers assessed three years of federal data to gain insights into the extent to which the state survey agencies charged with protecting nursing home residents are fulfilling their mission.
Citation rate and severity were assessed for seven critical areas of nursing home care: Overall Citations, Antipsychotics, Infection Control, Pressure Ulcers, Quality of Life, Resident Rights, Staffing, and Fines.
The results of this study indicate that, in the years leading into the COVID-19 pandemic and the first year of the pandemic, the state and federal response to longstanding and often serious problems in nursing homes was, overall, very weak.
“The failure to vigorously enforce the range of minimum standards we reviewed fostered a system in which poor care and demeaning conditions are rewarded and nursing homes were woefully unprepared to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic,” stated Richard Mollot, LTCCC’s Executive Director. “The decimation of the U.S. nursing home population, and the heartbreak suffered by families, was the tragic (but not inevitable) result.”
The report provides maps and tables illustrating state and regional performance. Visitors to our website can view and download interactive versions of the maps and table, which will help the public, as well as policymakers, understand the extent to which nursing home residents in their state and region are being protected.
LTCCC is also releasing today A Guide to Nursing Home Oversight & Enforcement. The Guide is a useful resource for anyone interested in understanding what to expect from the government agencies charged with ensuring nursing home resident safety and dignity, from requirements for nursing home inspections to actions on complaints about resident abuse and neglect.
Sample Map of Resident Rights Citations (Darker = lower enforcement rates).
Visit https://nursinghome411.org/survey-enforcement/ for the report, the guide to state oversight requirements, and interactive maps and charts showing state and regional performance.