GAO Releases Report on Nursing Home Deficiencies

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released their report on Nursing Homes entitled Federal Monitoring Surveys Demonstrate Continued Understatement of Serious Care Problems and CMS Oversight Weaknesses. The report identifies a serious issue in nursing home monitoring: under-citing of deficiencies. As the report states:

During fiscal years 2002 through 2007, about 15 percent of federal comparative surveys nationwide identified state surveys that failed to cite at least one deficiency at the most serious levels of noncompliance—actual harm and immediate jeopardy. Overall, nine states missed serious deficiencies on 25 percent or more of comparative surveys; in seven states federal surveyors identified no such missed deficiencies. During the same period, missed deficiencies at the lowest level of noncompliance—the potential for more than minimal harm—were more widespread: nationwide, approximately 70 percent of federal comparative surveys identified state surveys missing at least one deficiency at the lowest level of noncompliance, and in all but five states the number of state surveys with such missed deficiencies was greater than 40 percent.

Even with the under-reporting, the numbers for Pennsylvania were alarming. In 2007, 11.9% of nursing homes were cited for actual harm or immediate jeopardy of clients. This reports suggests that the true number of nursing homes with these violations may have been 25% or more!