Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Senators Release Names Of Nearly 400 Nursing Homes With 'Persistent Record Of Poor Care' That Are Not Publicly Identified
The Associated Press: Senate Report Reveals Nearly 400 Troubled Nursing Homes
The federal government for years has kept under wraps the names of hundreds of nursing homes around the country found by inspectors to have serious ongoing health, safety or sanitary problems. Nearly 400 facilities nationwide had a "persistent record of poor care" as of April, but they were not included along with a shorter list of homes that get increased federal scrutiny and do have warning labels, according to a Senate report released Monday. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 6/3)
USA Today: Nursing Homes: Senate Report IDs Facilities With 'Poor Care' History
Among the facilities on a list the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services provided is a Texas nursing home whose management allegedly failed to fix a waste system backup. Staff continued to serve food from the kitchen, the report says, despite a foul-smelling black substance coming through the drains and "seeping into the kitchen floor." “When a family makes the hard decision to seek nursing home services for a loved one, they deserve to know if a facility under consideration suffers from systemic shortcomings,” said Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., who along with Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., issued the report (Lam, 6/3)
PennLive: Sens. Casey, Toomey Release Government List Of Some Of The Nation’s Worst Nursing Homes
Sixteen Pennsylvania nursing homes are among a previously-undisclosed federal list of some of the worst nursing homes in the nation. The national list of 395 homes was released Monday by Pa. Senators Bob Casey Jr. and Pat Toomey as part of an investigation by the senators into aspects of federal oversight of nursing homes. Their investigation follows years of media reports of poor care in America’s nursing homes, including a 2016 PennLive series on chronic problems in Pennsylvania facilities and a follow-up 2018 investigation. (Simmons-Ritchie, 6/3)
KITV Channel 4: Hawaii's Worst Performing Nursing Homes Revealed
A half dozen Hawaii care centers have made the list of worst performing nursing homes in the state. The federal government recently released a list of facilities with a documented pattern of poor care, which is why six Hawaii nursing homes are now getting extra scrutiny. Many of Hawaii's aging population are being cared for at dozens of nursing facilities around the state. Each is regularly inspected by the Department of Health, but the news is not always good. (Drewes, 6/3)
14 News: 2 Tri-State Facilities Land On Troubled Nursing Homes List
After looking through the list, we found both Twin River Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Owensboro, and Signature Healthcare of Newburgh on the list. Federal data shows Twin Rivers had 15 health citations during their last health inspection in September and Signature Healthcare had 34 during their last inspection, which was in April of 2018. The average number of health citations nationwide is 7.9 according to medicare.gov.Federal officials say they’re evaluating if they can legally release the list. (DeVault, 6/3)
