Louisiana Lax On Nursing Home Oversight
Posted by Patti on August 8th, 2005 / Print This Post
More from Louisiana.
Louisiana is not enforcing federal regulations for nursing homes. Now a group has been set up to find out how to change that.Department of Health and Hospitals Secretary Fred Cerise says about 20 people both in and out of state government, will compare Louisiana’s regulatory system to those of other states.
The latest statistics show Louisiana nursing homes are far less likely to be fined for violations than nursing homes in other Southern states, even though the state’s homes often rank at or near the bottom on key national quality indicators.
Unlike the vast majority of states, where health departments leave the job of punishing problem homes up to the federal government, Louisiana regulators typically impose their own penalties for violations.
Since 1999, at least 33 nursing home deaths have been linked to poor care. The average fine for nursing homes that caused or contributed to a resident’s death was $1,970, well below the state’s legal maximum of $10,000.
Nine deaths drew no fines or sanctions even though inspectors said the homes contributed to the fatal outcomes through significant mistakes in caring for the residents.