Idaho surged back into the top nursing homes states for the second time, 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.
Buoyed by improvements in half of the statistical categories, Idaho’s nursing home ranking climbed to No. 6 overall, up from No. 15 in the previous report.
“Idahoans should be proud of their renewed nursing home success,” said Brian Lee, Families for Better Care’s executive director.
According to the report card, the state’s highest grade related to the percentage of nursing homes with clean inspections—1 in 4 reported no citations; indicative of a state committed to quality care for elderly and disabled adults.
Despite Idaho’s strong showing the report exposed a glaring blemish that needs immediate attention.
“The number of nursing homes with severe deficiencies continues to be a problem, with as many reports of facilities with cases of abuse and neglect as those with no deficiencies” Lee said. “The good news is that Idaho did decrease severe deficiencies by nearly 50 percent since the last reporting period, certainly a step in the right direction.”
Idaho’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.
