High fines for nursing North Carolina homes

State and federal nursing home regulators have imposed some of North Carolina’s heftier fines on Triad nursing homes during the past several years, including a High Point nursing home hit with a pair of penalties totaling $372,970.

The region is home to 11 skilled-nursing facilities where government inspectors found “serious deficiencies” in patient care or nursing home accommodations, according to information compiled from Medicare files by the ProPublica nonprofit journalism group.

News & Record : High fines for nursing homes

by Bernard Hamill

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Chronic underfunding means short staffing for Maine nursing homes

Staffing Levels can affect the quality of nursing home care. That is why proper funding is crucial to long term care residents in nursing homes. 107 nursing homes in Maine are continuing to deal with chronic underfunding from the state according to a recent article. Over the past five years, the nursing homes have been underfunded by $122 million in state and federal funds, and some places run an average of $340,000 short every year, according to the Maine Health Care Association, a trade group that represents most nursing homes in Maine.
The payments fall short because they are based on a 2005 formula, so even as utility and other costs have gone up, the payments have not. "I've had to cut back on the night shift," one nursing home employee said. "I don't have an afternoon-evening receptionist. We don't do any overtime."

Chronic underfunding means short staffing for Maine nursing homes | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram


by Bernard Hamill

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