Best and Worst States for Nursing Homes

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states there
are about 16,100 nursing homes in the U.S., with about 1.5 million residents.
Meanwhile, according to the National Center on Elder Abuse, over 20,000
complaints of abuse, gross neglect, and exploitation on behalf of nursing home
and board and care residents were reported in 2003. Now, according to a new
state-by-state report by Families for Better Care, a Florida-based nursing home
advocacy group, there is widespread abuse and neglect in our nation’s nursing
homes, with an abundant lack of staffing. While Alaska, Hawaii, and Maine
scored “superior” grades and ranked among America’s best nursing home states,
Texas, Georgia, Louisiana, and Tennessee each scored below average. New York,
as well, was one of 11 states in the country to receive failing grades.

For the study, Families for Better Care ranked and graded states
on eight different federal quality measures. These included the number of hours
both registered nurses and certified nurse assistants gave each resident per
day, the number of registered nurses working at the facility, the number of
direct care staff members, health inspection outcomes, ombudsman complaints,
and deficiencies reported. These measures were then compiled, arranged, and
compared, with researchers assigning a letter grade based on each state’s
comparative ranking. The state’s final grade was calculated by averaging the
assigned grades to each qualitative measure.

As a result of all of these measurements, the researchers came up with the top
10 states with overall superior grades. These included, in order, Alaska, Rhode
Island, New Hampshire, Hawaii, Oregon, Main, Utah, Idaho, South Dakota, and
North Dakota. The results also showed the lowest ranked states, all with
failing grades. These included, in order, Texas, Louisiana, Indiana, Oklahoma,
Missouri, New Mexico, New York, Michigan, Nevada, Illinois, and Iowa.

Source/more: Legal Examiner Blog