Nursing Homes Use This 5 star rating to make themselves look good when the fact is they really got a bad rating from the state inspection.

Its funny how it all works - let me break it down a bit - from my own personal experience

I go into a nursing facility for a tour - looking for a nice place for my mother and father in law like everyone else in my position- I'm nervous - this is a tough step for me

The administrators, aiming to please of course - proudly Display Medicare's 5 star rating for the facility right at the front door - and enjoy going over - in detail - just how they achieved this "prestigious" ranking

5 stars is a top knotch nursing facility! Impressive! I'm feeling a bit less nervous now

Coupled with the superior cleanliness of the facility - all of the residents seemed very happy and content - In fact I stopped and talked to a few of them. The staff was super friendly, caring , and as helpful as they could be , wow - this must be the place huh?

Well, I couldn't have been more wrong - my father in law ended up very sick - with a stage three bedsore and multiple infections - this within just a few weeks - and yes - he did pass away-but not until he suffered for 40 days.

Do I feel guilty? No - not really - Angry? Oh -Yeah - you bet I'm angry because after my father in law passed away - and I removed my mother in law from the facility I realized a few things and did a ton of digging.

What I Realized

The staff was super friendly because their boss was right there, giving me the tour. The Residents I talked to were content because they were over-medicated - Medicare's 5 star rating system rates on a totally ridiculous scale - and the place was so nice and clean because they spend more time cleaning than they do caring for the patients - you see, janitors cost less than nurses so - a super clean facility can actually be a drawback - not a good thing - like the old saying goes - don't judge a book by it's cover.

What I Dugg Up On The Internet

For State Inspections of medicare and medicaid compliance the home had failed - not once-but numerous times although - they still had a 5 star rating from medicare!

What the heck - the place had failed numerous State Inspections for faliure to give medications, bad ( I mean really bad) food , allowing residents to administer their own medications without supervision, and a whole lot of other things

The State Program overseeing Medicare and Medicaid payments had even - at one time refused to pay this facility for lack of compliance - and had forced them to give all of their residents a 30 day notice to vacate

I felt I could trust what medicare had to say about the facility - I mean gee whiz how can they have a 5 star rating with medicare and not be in compliance with the state agency who handles the medicare and medicaid payments?

What else did I learn?

This particular nursing home had been sued before

Moral of this story -

When looking for a good nursing home do some serious research - unfourtanatly for my father in law I believed these administrators and trusted Medicare's judgement of the facility

I have since removed my mother in law and brought her home

How and What kind of Research to do before placing a loved one in a facility?

Check with the county courthouse for past lawsuits that settled out of court as well as in court- they are public information -

Check with your state agency for past inspection results

Google the name of the nursing home

Check names of staff members and administrators - get refrences for them and check them out on something like - background checks on the internet - find out where they have worked previously and why they left - did I mention - check refrences of all nurses and staff who will be caring for your family member - including the people cooking their foods -

Once your loved one is placed in the home

Check on them regularly at all hours of the day and night

Actually un-dress them and do a entire body look-over at least once a week -checking for sores skin discolorations and bruising

Ask them when you visit if anything hurts

Check with the nurses as to bathing schedules, medication schedules,what kinds of medications they are recievieng and follow up by making sure its done

Google the medications if you do not know what they are for (My mother in law was on three different tranqulizing meds) (12 meds total per day Funny how now she only takes six)

"Cut Medicare Funding For Nursing Homes!"

Nurisng Home Neglect - A Growing Problem