Despite the rising costs of healthcare, the level of care the residents are receiving in nursing homes in the Western New York area is declining. According to a recent federal survey, one in three nursing homes in Western New York obtained the lowest possible score in the ratings from the federal government. As a personal injury attorney I frequently hear of needless injuries and illnesses due to poor care and neglect of our loved ones.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services uses a five star rating system to measure the level of care nursing homes are providing to its residents. There are three main measures used to calculate the overall star rating, including: deficiencies found during annual state inspections, staffing ratios, and a range of quality measures, like the percentage of residents hurt while in the care of the facility.
In the Buffalo and Western New York region seventy-four nursing homes were evaluated and only nine received the highest possible five star rating. Of the nine, only four have consistently performed well over the last few years: Harris Hill Nursing Facility in Williamsville, Autumn View Health Care Facility in Hamburg, Briody Health Care Facility in Lockport and the New York State Veterans’ Home in Batavia. However, the ratings of twenty-six other nursing homes in the region dropped over the past year.
While some chose to blame their facility’s low rating on the notion that inspectors in the Western New York area are more inclined to cite nursing homes for deficiencies than those who inspect nursing homes downstate, those facilities with a five-star rating in the area explain otherwise. One administrator explained that a five-star rating was achieved by one nursing home whose officials persistently focused on providing quality care, and used its own data and the federal data to guide them in where to make improvements for its residents, proving that a five-star rating is easily obtainable if the focus is on providing quality care to its residents.
Nursing home administrators explain that a one-year fluctuation in a nursing home’s rating may reflect a change the rating system itself, but a home that consistently receives a low star rating reveals a pattern that should be considered before placing a loved one in such a facility. To compare nursing homes in the area use the link provided below.
