Recent findings in a study by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) lead to a troubling conclusion: US nursing homes are overstating their staffing.  The fact is nursing home staffing issues lead to neglect and injuries for patients in those nursing homes.

CMS provided a five star rating system for nursing homes which was supposed to help families to make more informed decisions when selecting a nursing home for their loved ones.  Nursing homes are required by law to report specific information to the US government including, but not limited to:

• Number of Nurses
• Number of Caretakers
• Number of Overall Employees

These numbers were self-reported with no way to verify their accuracy.  Many nursing homes across the US inflated the size of their staff in an attempt to increase their property’s rating in the five star system.  However, a recent investigation based on actual payroll data has revealed the troubling truth – the numbers were inflated in many cases.

The fact is nursing home staffing issues lead to neglect and injuries for nursing home patients.  Under-staffing in nursing homes increases the patient care burden on nurses and caretakers.  As a result, these medical professionals are required to care for many more patients than Kentucky’s high standards require.  In many cases, anti-psychotic medications and other sedatives are often prescribed or increased to reduce the attention required by each patient.

Less staff means less supervision of patients who may be forced to attempt to get out of bed on their own to go to the rest room or seek assistance, leading to falls resulting in serious injury.  Overworked staff are also more likely to physically or emotionally abuse patients as fatigue sets in throughout the day.

CMS has recently re-evaluated nursing homes based upon payroll data and adjusted ratings accordingly.  You may wish to re-check the ratings of local nursing homes.   If you are concerned about abuse or neglect of a loved one in a nursing home or if your family members suffers a serious injury in a fall we invite you to contact HLH or call for a free consultation at (866) 583-9701 with experienced and highly recommended Louisville nursing home neglect and injury attorneys.