The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

CHICAGO, IL – Nearly 1.3 million residents live in nursing home facilities across the United States. Nursing homes should offer a safe place for your loved one who needs guided rehabilitation or a senior care facility their future residency. It’s normal to have questions and concerns about these facilities as a quarter of all residents will experience during their residency. The coronavirus pandemic has targeted the elderly nursing home population more than any other demographic.

When you begin to research, be sure to schedule a virtual tour of a facility. Ask to talk to the administrator and staff members and ask questions to learn about the nursing home’s staffing, training, environment, and infectious disease outbreaks.

Make sure to consider asking the following questions:

Facility Type:

Is the nursing home Medicare certified?
Is the nursing home Medicaid certified?
Are both the nursing home and current administrator licensed by my state?
Is rehabilitation care offered?
Does the nursing home offer specialized care, such as dementia?
Is there an arbitration agreement requested to be signed?
Will the nursing home create a care plan for my loved one?
Will the nursing home provide in writing to me their polices and procedures, services, charges, and fees before I move my love one into the facility?

Staffing:

Are you currently facing staffing challenges due to COVID-19?
Do staff wear masks and seem equipped with person protection equipment to protect against COVID?
How often is staff tested for COVID?
What is your staff to resident ratio?
Has there been a turnover in administration staff, such as the director of nurses, within the last year?
How long do nurses and aides spend with residents each day?
Do staff knock before entering a resident’s room?
Does the nursing home offer training and continued education for all staff?
How does the facility ensure they don’t hire staff members who have been found guilty of abuse, neglect, or mistreatment?

Safety, Infectious Disease & Care:

How are residents and staff screened for fevers and respiratory diseases?
What is your COVID outbreak history?
What is your COVID testing plan and response strategy?
Can residents still see their personal doctors?
Does the nursing home’s inspection report show the quality of care problems or other deficiencies?
Has the nursing home corrected all deficiencies?
Can I see the most recent health and fire inspection report?

Food:

Can the nursing home provide a special dietary need?
Do residents have a choice of food items at each meal?
Can residents eat when they want?
Does staff help residents eat and drink at mealtimes, if needed?

Residents Rooms:

Can residents have personal belongings in their room?
Does each resident have a storage space, such as a closet and drawers, in their room?
Does each resident’s room have a window in it?
Can a resident leave their room if showing signs of any illness? How do you minimize resident’s exposure to others who may be sick of tested positive for coronavirus?
Do residents have access to the internet, personal phone, television, and computer?

Hallways, Stairs, Common Areas, & Bathrooms:

What types of spaces do residents share?
How often are common areas cleaned and disinfected?
Are common areas, hallways, resident rooms, and doorways designed for wheelchair accessibility?
Are handrails appropriately placed in hallways and bathrooms?

Activities:

What types of activities are offered to residents, including those who are unable to leave their rooms, allowed to participate in?
Does the nursing home have outdoor areas for resident use?
When does the nursing home allow visitors? Are visits outside?
What disruptions has COVID-19 caused in group activities?

Use of Antipsychotic Drugs:

What percentage of residents who are diagnosed with dementia are prescribed antipsychotic medication?
Does the nursing home have specific policies and procedures related to the care of individuals with dementia?
What is the current rate of antipsychotic medication use within the facility?

Both state and federal laws protect the right of residents in nursing homes; however, each year nearly 5 million elders fall victim to abuse and neglect. Often times, negligence occurs because of understaffing and insufficiently trained to care for residents in long-term settings. When facilities do not comply with safety standards and employ adequate staff, residents may suffer from malnutrition, bedsores, dehydration, fatal falls, medication errors, come into contact with an infectious disease, or fall victim to abuse.

Resources for Nursing Home Abuse

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced it is now easier for consumers to identify nursing homes and long-term facilities with instances of non-compliance related to abuse on their website. CMS is rolling out a warning icon strategy to highlight facilities that meet the following criteria:

Facilities cited for abuse where residents were found to be harms on the most recent standard survey, or on a complaint survey within the past 12 months;

Facilities cited for abuse where residents were found to be potentially harmed on the most standard survey or a complain survey within the past 12 months and on the previous standard survey or on a complain survey in the prior 12 months

The icon is designed a bright red “STOP” hand, which may negatively shift a provider’s overall federal quality rating, but the change is welcomed by elder abuse advocates after years of systematically being non-compliant with unexplained inconsistencies in quality measures. Consumers will now have access to more information about nursing facility’s history of abuse, neglect or exploitation citations when visiting the CMS’s Five-Star Quality Rating System through the Nursing Home Compare Website.

Contact Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Attorneys in Illinois

If you suspect your loved one is being abused or neglected in a nursing home in Illinois, contact the attorney’s of Dinizulu Law Group, Ltd. Our attorney’s have extensive knowledge and resources in this area of law and offer a personalized service by working closely with clients throughout every step of the process. Call our office today for a free consultation at (312) 384-1920 or visit our website for more information.

CHICAGO, IL – The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is responsible for ensuring nursing homes nationwide meet the federal quality standard of care, including residents be free from abuse. CMS has a contract with state agencies that allow citations on nursing homes for any incidents of abuse.

What GAO Found

In June 2019, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that from 2013 to 2017, nursing home abuse citations more than doubled, increasing from 430 reports in 2013 to 875 in 2017 and the largest increase in severe cases. There are gaps in the oversight that make it difficult to protect residents from the abuse occurring within nursing home facilities.

Specifically, the main concerns by GAO include:

Information on abuse and perpetrator types is not readily available. CMS’s database does not allow the type of abuse or perpetrator to be identified by the agency. Specifically, CMS does not require state agencies to record abuse or perpetrator type, and even when recorded, it cannot be easily analyzed by CMS. GAO suggested that CMS require state agencies to submit data on abuse, perpetrator types, and HHS concurred.
Facility reported incidents lack key information. Federal law requires nursing homes to self-report allegations of abuse and covered individuals to report reasonable suspicions of crimes against residents. CMS has not provided any guidance to nursing homes on what information should be included in facility-reported incidents, which contributes a lack of information to state agencies and delays in on-going investigations.
Gaps exist in the CMS process for state agency referrals to law enforcement. There are gaps in CMS’s process for reporting incidents to law enforcement officials. These gaps may limit or delay CMS’s ability to ensure that nursing homes meet federal requirements to ensure residents are free from abuse. GAO identified issues relating to:
1. Referring abuse to law enforcement in a timely manner,
2. Tracking abuse referrals,
3. Defining what it means to substantiate an allegation of abuse,
4. And sharing information with law enforcement.

Recommendations by GAO for Executive Action

The administrator of CMS should require that abuse and perpetrator type be submitted in CMS’s databases for deficiency, complaint, and facility-reported incident data where CMS can systematically assess trends in these data.
The administrator of CMS should develop and guide – using a standardized form – to all state agencies on the information nursing homes and covered individuals should include on facility-reported incidents.
The administrator of CMS should require state agencies to immediately refer complaints to law enforcement if they have reasonable suspicion that a crime against a resident has been committed when the complaint was received.
The administrator of CMS should conduct oversight of state agencies to ensure referrals of complaints, survey’s, and incidents within a reasonable suspicion be referred to law enforcement in a timely manner.
The administrator of CMS should develop guidance for state agencies clarifying allegations verified by evidence should be substantiated and reported to law enforcement and state registries in cases where federal deficiency may not be appropriate.
The administrator of CMS should provide guidance on what information needs to be contained in the referral of abuse allegations to law enforcement.

Why GAO Conducted this Study

Nationwide, nearly 1.4 million elderly or disabled individuals receive care in more than 15,500 nursing homes. CMS, an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), defines the standards nursing homes must meet to participate in the Medicare and Medicaid program.

Often times, nursing home residents have physical or cognitive limitations that can leave them vulnerable to abuse. Abuse of nursing home residents can occur in many forms – including physical, mental, verbal, and sexual – and can be committed by staff, residents, or others in the nursing home. Any incident of abuse is serious and can result in potentially devastating consequences for residents such as mental anguish, serious injury, and even death.

What to do if You Suspect Abuse

You should contact an attorney immediately who is knowledgeable and experienced in nursing home abuse to ensure your loved one’s rights are fully protected. A lawyer may serve as the liaison between your family, the nursing home, and IDPH during the investigation, or can conduct an independent investigation.

An attorney will help assess your options to seek relief through a lawsuit, which can include compensation for any physical, emotional, or financial harm your loved one has endured.

To schedule a free consultation, please contact our office at (312) 384-1920 or (800) 693-1LAW. Please visit our website for any additional information including previous verdicts and settlements.