Why the government lets nursing facilities get away with poor staffing [View all]
Regulators have allowed thousands of nursing homes across America to flout federal staffing rules by going an entire day and night without a registered nurse on duty, a USA TODAY investigation has found.
Nearly all of them got away with it: Only 4% were cited by government inspectors. Even fewer were fined.
When other nursing home caregivers are added into the equation, one-third of U.S. facilities fell short of multiple benchmarks the federal government has created for nurse and aide staffing.
Low-income residents, disproportionately people of color, fare the worst. Their nursing homes report the lowest staffing levels, but data show they seldom get in trouble because of it.
A USA TODAY investigation has documented, for the first time, how rarely the federal government enforces decades-old staffing guidelines and rules for nursing homes.
Citations and penalties remained sparse even as regulators developed three ways to measure staffing. In the spring, they will propose a fourth approach.
https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/investigations/2022/12/01/skilled-nursing-facilities-staffing-problems-biden-reforms/8318780001/
This might be the most depressing article I've read all week. A society is judged by how it treats its most vulnerable.
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