SAN FRANCISCO -- Medicare paid billions in taxpayer dollars to nursing homes nationwide that were not meeting basic requirements to look after their residents, government investigators have found.
The report, released today by the Health and Human Services Department's inspector general, said Medicare paid about $5.1 billion for patients to stay in skilled-nursing facilities that failed to meet federal quality-of-care rules in 2009, in some cases resulting in dangerous and neglectful conditions.A third of the time that patients wound up in nursing homes that year, they landed in facilities that failed to follow basic care requirements laid out by the agency that administers Medicare, investigators estimated.By law, nursing homes need to write up care plans tailored to each resident, so doctors, nurses, therapists and all other caregivers are on the same page.Residents are often going without crucial help, and the government might be spending taxpayer money on facilities that could endanger people's health, the report concluded.The findings come as concerns about healthcare quality and cost are garnering heightened attention as the Obama administration implements the nation's sweeping healthcare overhaul."These findings raise concerns about what Medicare is paying for," the report said.Investigators estimate that in a fifth of the stays, patients' health problems weren't addressed in the care plans, falling far short of government directives. In other cases, residents got therapy they didn't need.Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
