Georgia’s nursing home ranking sank to record depths in this year’s nursing home report card, reports Families for Better Care, a national nursing home resident advocacy group based in Austin.
The group published its third state-by-state nursing home report card by analyzing eight federal measures to gauge nursing home quality.
Georgia nursing homes now rank among worst in the nation in hiring enough licensed nurses to safely care for residents with nearly 70 percent of the state’s facilities failing to score an above rating in professional hours.
“Understaffed nursing homes have become a chronic problem in the Peach State,” said Brian Lee, the group’s executive director.
But as bad as Georgia nursing homes are in providing licensed nursing care, they’re so much worse in hiring enough frontline caregivers. The state now ranks at the bottom in caregiver hours per resident.
“Residents are unable to be cared for properly when they are afforded little more than 2 hours and 10 minutes direct care per day,” said Lee. “Unfortunately, Georgia’s paltry staffing scores are contributing to more nursing home neglect.”
The state’s depleted staffing levels have resulted in the state's highest percentage of regulatory infractions; nearly 90 percent were cited one or more deficiencies—a 50 percent increase over the state’s previous report card.
“A great way for Governor Kemp and the Georgia Legislature to reverse the state’s trend of nursing home neglect is by passing a tough staffing standard, something the residents desperately need,” Lee stated. “But a new staffing standard isn’t enough, lawmakers must find a way to help nursing homes pay for any new staffing mandate if care is to improve at all.”
Georgia’s 2019 Nursing Home Report Card is available for download at http://www.nursinghomereportcards.com.
ABOUT FAMILIES FOR BETTER CARE
Families for Better Care, Inc. is a non-profit citizen advocacy group dedicated to creating public awareness of the conditions in our nation’s nursing homes and developing solutions for improving quality of life and care. For more information, visit http://familiesforbettercare.com.
