One-Third Of U.S. Nursing Homes Overdue For Inspections: Newsweek reported in early March 2023: “About 4,500 of the nation’s more than 15,000 nursing homes were reported overdue for an inspection as of mid-February, federal health data shows. Of those, more than 1,500 facilities’ last documented inspection occurred before COVID-19 was declared a national emergency, according to the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which contracts with state health departments to oversee the industry. Federal law requires nursing homes to be inspected at least every 15 months.”
“Today’s backlog began forming in early 2020, when federal officials paused annual inspections to curb COVID-19 spread among fragile residents. The blanket moratorium ended that August, but the pileup continued for another year. CMS had encouraged states to focus on narrow investigations into nursing homes’ infection control measures and severe complaints. In November 2021, the agency directed health departments to resume annual inspections “on a regular basis” if they had not already, prioritizing facilities facing serious issues such as abuse, neglect and understaffing.”
“Yet states across the country have continued to fall short. The national backlog, which had been slowly shrinking, plateaued in the summer of 2022. In the worst-performing states—Kentucky, Idaho and Maryland—CMS reported more than three in four nursing homes were behind schedule. So were more than half of facilities in Alabama, Delaware, Missouri, New Jersey and Tennessee. Even states with smaller backlogs are conducting annual inspections less often than before the pandemic. Nationwide, about 9,400 happened in 2022, down from more than 14,600 in 2019.”
“The diminished oversight coincides with a critical moment for nursing homes. Amid a nationwide nursing shortage, the industry’s workforce remains at its lowest level in nearly three decades, according to the American Health Care Association, a trade group representing long-term care providers. Academic research has established a clear link between understaffing and declines in care, particularly when it comes to preventing bedsores, which can cause life-threatening complications.”
“Many health departments say they can’t retain or recruit enough surveyors to catch up, blaming a mixture of retirements, employee burnout, lingering fears of COVID-19 and uncompetitive wages caused by stagnant federal funding. Kentucky reported less than one in five of its surveyor positions had been filled as of October 2022. Desperate officials have been striking contracts with private companies that build their own ranks of surveyors, in part, by poaching state employees, further depleting government workforces.”
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