How to Look for Nursing Home Violations
Placing your loved one in a nursing home is very difficult. Their safety and well-being is your utmost priority and you want to make sure you have made the right decision. Although you cannot control the actions of others, there are steps you can take when researching the different homes you are considering. Below, our Tampa nursing home abuse lawyers outline how to look for nursing home violations so you can ensure the facility you place your loved one in is safe.
Medicare’s Nursing Home Ratings
Medicare has created a Care Compare tool that offers official ratings for nursing homes based on quality measures, health inspections, and deficiencies in care. You simply have to visit the agency’s Care Compare page and search either by your city or state or by the name of the facility. The search results will provide you with an overall rating, staffing levels, and inspection results for any specific facility. You will also find if a facility has had any violations or complaints lodged against it. If a facility has repeated violations or deficiencies, you may want to select another nursing home.
Florida’s Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program
The Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program in Florida acts as an advocate for nursing home residents and their families. You can contact the ombudsman and ask for a history of investigations, outcome, and complaints for a specific facility you are considering. The ombudsman can provide better insight than official rankings and reports, such as firsthand accounts from residents and responses from the facility.
ProPublica’s Nursing Home Inspection Tool
ProPublica is a non-profit organization that collects nursing home inspection reports from federal agencies and compiles it into a database that is easy to access and view. You can search by state or facility name and find specific citations for safety issues, health deficiencies, and violations of the standard of care. When any specific facility has a history of violations it indicates that the safety and well-being of residents within them are at serious risk.
Online Reviews
Online reviews can be compared with official reports so you can get a feel for what living in a specific facility is like. You may not be able to find an official history of a facility’s previous violations but you can learn more about warning signs other families noticed that official reports may not provide. Reading reviews from residents and their families can help you discover possible warning signs to find another facility.
Our Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers in Tampa Can Help
Doing your due diligence and researching different nursing homes is of critical importance when deciding who will care for your loved one. Unfortunately, abuse and neglect can still happen. If it does, our Tampa nursing home abuse lawyers at Kohn Law are here to help. Our experienced attorneys will conduct an investigation to determine if abuse occurred, collect evidence to support your case, and help your family obtain the best possible outcome. Call us now at 813-428-8504 or contact us online to schedule a consultation and to learn more about how we can help with your case.
Sources:
medicare.gov/care-compare/?providerType=NursingHome
ombudsman.elderaffairs.org/
projects.propublica.org/nursing-homes/findings/search?search=Florida&toggle=home
