How Can I Find Out if a Nursing Home Has a History of Elder Abuse or Neglect?
The decision to entrust a loved one’s care to a nursing home or long-term care facility is never easy. Selecting the facility can be just as overwhelming as the initial decision itself. California has approximately 1,230 licensed long-term care nursing facilities that provide care for more than 400,000 patients each year – it’s no wonder selecting a single, high-quality facility can seem like trying to find a needle in a haystack. However, the federal government has provided a tool that can make it easier to avoid facilities that may create an unsafe environment for your loved one.
Nursing Home Compare Site
The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) helps set standards across the nation for long-term care facilities and administer Medicaid and Medicaid payments. They host a website called Nursing Home Compare, which provides data that can help families research facilities and find out information to help them decide on the right place for themselves or their loved one. Currently, nursing homes receive an overall rating, which is determined by combining the results of three categories:
- Staffing;
- Quality measures; and
- Health inspections.
Consumer Alert Icon
CMS has recently implemented an additional tool on Nursing Home Compare to inform consumers about facilities that may pose risks to their loved ones. Now, a red icon with a white hand in the center next to a facility indicates that they have received a citation for abuse, exploitation, and/or neglect within the past year, or abuse that potentially harmed patients within in the past two years. The icon is updated monthly and will be removed if the facilities go a year without receiving any additional citations for abuse. Abuse can include a broad variety of behaviors, such as physical abuse, verbal abuse, or even failure to properly treat a patient’s medical needs.
It’s important to know that even though these icons provide helpful information and should prompt additional investigation and questions on your part, they don’t provide a complete picture. Abuse citations are still relatively rare – they are only issued once a state agency investigates complaints and can substantiate the claim with evidence. However, the number of federal standard violations doubled between 2013 – 2017 to a staggering 875, which does not include violations that were not reported nor investigated.
Speak to a Top Temecula Nursing Home Lawyer
It’s important to research nursing homes and long-term care facilities thoroughly before selecting one to care for you or a family member. If you or a loved one has been injured at one of these facilities, contact the skilled Temecula nursing home attorneys at Walton Law, APC today. Our attorneys have spent years delivering comprehensive, professional, personalized representation and successfully fought for our clients to recover millions in damages. Contact us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at
(866) 338-7079 or complete our
Contact Us form to schedule a no obligation, free initial case evaluation today! Let us answer your questions, explain the lawsuit process, and show you how we can help make the best of a bad situation.