Top Rated Nursing Homes are Hard to Find in Texas

SeaBreeze

SeaBreeze

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Some less than desirable care for our elderly in Texas and some other states....http://seniorjournal.com/NEWS/Elder...re-hard-to-find-in-Texas-ten-other-states.htm


May 14, 2015, Lockhart, Texas - The call from the nursing home came just before dawn, jolting Martha Sherwood awake. During the night, fire ants had swarmed over her 85-year-old mother, injecting their stinging venom into Natalie Sealy’s face, arms, hands and chest.

“She was just lying there being eaten alive,” said daughter Billie Pender, who said she and her sister had repeatedly complained about a broken windowsill in their mother’s room at Parkview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. The Sept. 2 attack devastated Sealy, a retired bank teller with dementia. “She went steadily downhill,” dying in late March, said Sherwood, who brought a lawsuit against the home.


Their mother had chosen the for-profit facility two years earlier because it was near her adult children. The family didn’t know that Parkview scored poorly on staffing and other quality measures. This year, Medicare rates it one star out of a possible five stars — the lowest rating possible — on Nursing Home Compare, which was designed by the federal government to help consumers choose a long-term care facility.


The problem for Sealy’s family and residents of many parts of the country is they have few, if any, higher-rated options if they want their loved ones close by. In 11 states, 40 percent or more of nursing homes get the two lowest ratings, according to an analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation. (Kaiser Health News is an editorially independent program of the foundation.)


Texas has the highest percentage of one-and two-star homes in the country: 51 percent of its nursing homes are rated “below average,” or “much below average,” on Nursing Home Compare, according to the analysis. Louisiana is close behind at 49 percent, with Oklahoma, Georgia and West Virginia tying for third at 46 percent.


Other states with at least 40 percent of homes ranked at the bottom two rungs include North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York.


Stars are awarded based on government inspection reports, staffing levels and self-reported quality measures, including the percentage of residents who develop bed sores or who are injured in falls. Earlier this year, the government added quality criteria and as a result, many nursing homes dropped a star or more.
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My wife is currently in a 4 star nursing home, but their rating on staff is only 1 star and I'm acutely aware of how much staff turn over there is. I'll be moving to Cincinnati and so I'm currently evaluating nursing homes there. There aren't that many 4 and 5 star facilities and I don't want to consider a 3 star facility. The Medicare rating is about the only metric I use, I visit all the candidates but visits can see the nice things but miss the not nice things. It's my belief that the patient's advocate (me) has to visit every day to make sure the staff is doing what has to be done.
 
Josiah said:
It's my belief that the patient's advocate (me) has to visit every day to make sure the staff is doing what has to be done.
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I thoroughly agree Josiah. Ratings based on inspections can be manipulated upwards and record keeping can be falsified. Daily visits keep the staff on their toes. I was described by a Doctor who was visiting my mother in her nursing home as "an attentive daughter". I didn't just visit her, I shared a lot of her daily experiences with her and other residents. The staff were very good and welcomed my presence at any time, which is an excellent indicator of quality.

I would always choose a not-for-profit facility because the ethos is care over profit.
 

Yes, you are looking at a red state that has low taxes and low regulations, a half-wit Republican governor that turned down the medicaid expansion funds....no surprise that Texas is at the bottom of the barrel in nursing home care.This article was written back in 2011....
unprecedented crisis' for Texas nursing home
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/745780... Texas nursing home leaders are concerned about how they will care for the frail and elderly if lawmakers carry out plans to drastically reduce the state Medicaid budget.Deep cuts would gut many nursing homes, forcing them to pare back services, reduce staff or even close, administrators said. A majority of the state's nursing home residents depend on Medicaid for long-term care."This is an unprecedented crisis we are facing in the state," said George Linial, president and CEO of the Texas Association of Homes and Services for the Aging.Medicaid is a state-federal funded program that provides health care assistance for children, pregnant women, disabled and elderly people. Senate and House budget proposals call for a 10 percent reduction in Medicaid spending to help close a budget shortfall, but the loss totals 33 percent when the loss of federal matching funds from the stimulus package is factored in, the association said. The stimulus funding runs out in June and won't be replaced.Based on a survey to determine how dependent nursing homes are on Medicaid, the association estimates that 80 percent of the state's 1,054 nursing homes would close and more than 60,000 residents would lose care if Medicaid funds dropped by 30 percent. In the Houston-Galveston area, 65 out of 76 facilities would close and more than 7,000 elderly would lose care, the association said.-snip- I'll be willing to bet that if you took the time to check the states that have lowest rating on Nursing home care they'll mostly be red states.
 
Josiah said:
The vast majority of nursing homes in the U.S. are for profit.
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I guess that is the American way.

Over here all nursing home beds are subsidised by the Commonwealth according to the level of care needed and means tested according to the assets/income of the patient. We do have a profit sector but we also have providers such as Masonic Homes, church affiliated homes and some provided by local government that are not commercial enterprises. My aunt is in one in a country town that is operated by the local Returned Services League (RSL) and it is excellent.
 
Dame Warrigal said:
I guess that is the American way.

Over here all nursing home beds are subsidised by the Commonwealth according to the level of care needed and means tested according to the assets/income of the patient. We do have a profit sector but we also have providers such as Masonic Homes, church affiliated homes and some provided by local government that are not commercial enterprises. My aunt is in one in a country town that is operated by the local Returned Services League (RSL) and it is excellent.
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In matters of social and health related services you are way far ahead of us. You're a caring nation, we're a greedy nation.
 
I agree with what Josiah has said.

This is so complicated, I can't even start. The star ratings as far as I'm concerned mean little. The worst environment I ever worked in was a very nice looking facility with a good rating.

Another problem is you don't know who you are talking to when you talk to the staff. You don't know how they really do their job. If they try to do it right or they do as little as possible. I've worked with all kinds. And I do now.

The state surveyors at a scary nightmare to me.
 
Some nursing homes in Australia have the glossy brochures. They look wonderful, but so many "for profit" people have come along and opened their nursing homes that the reality is that some of the aged people are left with less than optimal care.

Too few workers, the wonderful enclosed gardens are off limits because their aren't enough staff to supervise the people being cared for. The residents can't access them.

They also limit the number of incontinence pads that may be used for each person. sometimes only 3 per day.

It is not the fault of the staff employed - they have to follow the rules imposed on them
 
We have a supposedly 4 star facility around the corner from our home. Last winter, on a freezing snowy night, staff lost track of a dementia patient.

He was found the next day by an aid taking a smoke break. He'd walked through an unlocked exit door into the courtyard. When the door closed behind him he was locked out.

In the 70s my mom was working tirelessly for nursing home reform. She was on TV, on the local news and 60 Minutes. Her sister was in and out of nursing homes and often the care was abysmal. That was in Pennsylvania. Things did change.

Unfortunately here in Texas healthcare of all kinds is generally horrible. Nurses making medical decisions, home health aides I wouldn't let near my poodle - as someone with multiple chronic illnesses it's terrifying!
 
I have been disturbed by the number of "workers" who have limited English. I know of one woman, from an African country who somehow managed to pass the "exams" in our country to become an aged care worker in a facility.

I could hardly understand her speech, but after a half hour back and forth conversation, I understood that she was going on night duty and that she would be the direct carer for over 15 people!

Sure, at night there would be less need, but if she can't understand me, and I can't understand her, how does "care" happen?
 
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