531 deficiencies found in 80 Kentucky nursing homes in first quarter of 2012; worst one had 29; five had none

State inspectors found 531 deficiencies in 80 Kentucky nursing homes in the first quarter of this year, with one facility accounting for 29 of them alone: Life Care Center of Morehead. In five nursing homes, no deficiencies were found.

The information was released by Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform, a nonprofit organization that advocates for nursing home residents and obtains the data regularly through open-records requests to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services and distributes it statewide. The information is posted as part of Medicare's nursing-home comparison data.

According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the average number of deficiencies for a nursing home inspected in the U.S. is eight and the average in Kentucky is seven. Inspections assess a facility on the care of residents and how that care is administered; on how staff and residents interact; and on its environment. Certified nursing homes must meet more than 180 regulatory standards. The state Office of Inspector General website has more data, such as the results of inspections and the ownership of each facility.

Nursing homes with 10 or more deficiencies in the first quarter were:
• Life Care Center of Morehead (29 deficiencies)
• Kindred Transitional Care & Rehab-Fountain Circle in Winchester (24)
• Signature Health of Pikeville (19)
• Hearthstone Place in Elkton (15)
• Martin County Health Care Facility in Inez (14)
• Wesley Manor Nursing Center in Louisville (13)
• Pembroke Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Pembroke (13)
• Highlands Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Louisville (11)
• Mountain Manor of Paintsville (11)
• Cumberland Valley Manor in Burkesville (10)
• Klondike Care and Rehabilitation Center in Louisville (10)

The five nursing homes with no deficiencies were:
• Clark Regional Medical Center in Winchester
• Nazareth Home in Louisville
• Essex Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Louisville
• Barren County Health Care Center in Glasgow
• Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Center in Lexington (initial inspection; under new ownership)

For more information about Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform, click here.

Effort to boost oral health in nursing homes gets tangled up with industry's attempt to insulate itself from lawsuits; both bills die

A bill to get nursing-home residents better dental services "appears to be dead after the Senate added language from another bill designed to shield the nursing-home industry from litigation," Deborah Yetter reports for The Courier-Journal.

House Bill 510 would have created a pilot project for the state's two dental schools to create "a program to provide better oral-health services to nursing home residents," Yetter writes. "But on Wednesday, the Senate Health and Welfare Committee added language from another bill that had stalled in the House that would require people who want to file malpractice lawsuits against nursing homes to first submit the complaint to a 'medical review panel'." (Read more) 

Bill passed that would require fingerprint background checks at nursing homes

The state House has approved a bill requiring long-term care facilities to run background checks using fingerprinting technology, a move that would be mostly funded by a $3 million federal grant. The state will kick in $1 million.

The House approved the measure 62-36, though many lawmakers are worried about who is going to pay for the effort when the grant runs out in three years. Background checks cost between $60 and $80.

Now, long-term care facilities must "do a name-based background check," reports Beth Musgrave for the Lexington Herald-Leader. "However, those background checks only look at state records. A fingerprint check can search nationally for criminal records."

Rep. Carl Rollins, D-Midway, said he was unsure if House Bill 250 will pass in the Republican-controlled Senate. (Read more)

Death of personal-care home resident has lawmakers from his hometown talking about stricter staffing rules

The death of a missing personal-care home resident has a bipartisan pair of Kentucky lawmakers from his home town of talking about setting staffng standards for Kentucky's personal-care homes or even nursing homes, which have successfully lobbied against such regulation.

Republican Sen. Jimmy Higdon and Democratic Rep. Terry Mills of Lebanon participated in the search that led to the discovery of Falmouth Nursing Home resident Larry Lee's body, Valarie Honeycutt Spears of the Lexington Herald-Leader reports. Following the search, they agreed tougher legislation is needed for personal-care homes.

State regulations on staffing for such homes are vague, stating staff-to-resident ratios should be based on the number of patients and the supervision required to meet their needs, Spears reports.

Higdon plans to address staff-to-resident ratios, resident activities, aging facilities and other problems through legislation. He said he may also support legislation that would create procedures for communities to follow when vulnerable community members go missing.

Mills wants the General Assembly to investigate staff-to-resident ratios for all long-term care facilities, including nursing homes. He said he and Higdon have discussed a "call for a task force to study conditions at personal-care homes." (Read more)