Press Release

The National Citizens’ Coalition for Nursing Home Reform today praised Rep. Henry Waxman and Sen. Charles Grassley for their report showing that many serious problems in nursing homes are not reported on the government’s Nursing Home Compare website because they are found during complaint investigations, not routine annual inspections.

"Rep. Waxman and Sen. Grassley demonstrate that failure to report violations found during complaint investigations distorts the information that families get from Nursing Home Compare when they are looking for a good nursing home," said NCCNHR executive director Donna R. Lenhoff. "Complaint investigations may actually reveal more about a nursing home’s quality than regular inspections because nursing homes frequently anticipate the date of annual surveys and prepare for them. Surveyors are more likely to see the real conditions in a nursing home when they investigate a complaint."

Lenhoff said that as alarming as the findings are (for example, complaint investigations found 1,100 deaths or serious injuries and 4,400 other violations that caused harm), the actual number of complaints about serious violations is probably much higher than government figures reveal.

"One of the most distressing aspects of our work is the many calls we receive from families who cannot get a state survey agency or another government agency to investigate their complaint," said Lenhoff. "Or whose complaints are investigated but dismissed, no matter how badly the resident was harmed. Getting all states to take consumers’ complaints seriously and to learn to investigate them properly is the next step."

The Department of Health and Human Services has made improving consumer access to information about the quality of nursing homes a priority. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently launched an initiative to identify a set of "quality indicators" that will be reported on Nursing Home Compare next fall.

"Rep. Waxman and Sen. Grassley demonstrate that violations found during complaints are also a critical indicator of quality," said Lenhoff. "NCCNHR strongly urges CMS to follow the example of the House Government Reform Committee minority staff and to add complaint violations to the information now reported on Nursing Home Compare.

NCCNHR has provided consumer information, technical assistance, and a voice in Washington for nursing home residents, citizen advocacy groups, and long-term care ombudsmen for more than 25 years.   

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