I-Team: Nursing Home Report

The Massachusetts state Health Department issues its final inspection report detailing serious findings of poor elder care at nursing home: the Pawtuxet Village Care and Rehabilitation Center.
Some of the Health Department reports' findings included not answering nurses' call lights for 15 minutes, leaving residents in urine- and feces-soaked clothing, failing to provide an on-going program that meets the interests and well being for residents, and under medicating and overmedicating residents, sometimes with narcotics, because of nursing home staff mistakes.

I-Team: Nursing Home Report | Turn to 10
See also http://www2.turnto10.com/news/i-team/2012/mar/14/8/i-team-report-details-poor-care-nursing-home-ar-964965/

Ohio facility may lose license after meth lab fire

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The state of Ohio is taking steps to revoke the license of a nursing home that had a fatal methamphetamine lab fire and was later found to be violating federal regulations, the Ohio Department of Health said Tuesday.
The March 4 fire broke out in a resident's room at Park Haven Home in Ashtabula. Shaun Warrens, 31, who police said was not a resident of the home or an employee, was killed. Four other people were hospitalized, and two were treated at the scene.
A review of the home last week cited seven nursing home violations, including failure to have a written plan to evacuate residents in an emergency, according to a report on the violations. The home was also cited for not correctly closing and latching doors and not providing proper beds for two residents.
Park Haven was notified Monday that its state license may be revoked, health department spokeswoman Tessie Pollock said. If the home is closed, representatives of several agencies would be available to help residents find other places to live, she said.

Read more here: facility may lose license after meth lab fire - Wire National News - The Sacramento Bee

Low nursing homes ratings

Most of the 14 nursing homes in the Iowa City area are making the grade under federal quality ratings, but two facilities with higher-than-average health inspection deficiencies have consistently received failing scores over the past three years, an analysis of government ratings shows.
Windmill Manor, a troubled Coralville nursing home that has faced numerous federal and state penalties in recent years, currently is rated as a one-star facility, the lowest grade on the government’s five-star scale. And Iowa City Rehab and Health Care is currently rated as a two-star nursing home after sub-par health inspection scores, though its management says a recent renovation and good staffing will only improve the nursing home’s quality.
The ratings are issued by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which introduced the star system in late 2008 to give consumers a better way to compare nursing homes through an online database. Administrators say the grades — which take into account health inspections, staffing ratios and self-reported quality measures — are a useful tool for families who are scouting potential facilities. But many say the system fails to paint a complete picture, and they welcome changes that are set to be implemented this year.
Officials: More to nursing homes than the ratings show | Iowa City Press Citizen | press-citizen.com