Nursing
homes vie for funds to raise quality
By Diane C.
Lade
Staff writer
Posted August 2 2002
Impressed by the number of nursing homes voluntarily seeking help with improving
their care, the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services will spend an
extra $35 million on its quality improvement plan for the industry -- which includes
the controversial publishing of inspection results in 90 newspapers nationwide
this fall.
Florida is one
of six states participating in an $11 million pilot project testing the plan that
will go national in October.
The first phase
hit here in April, when the center ran ads in Florida newspapers, including the
Sun-Sentinel. They showed how local homes stacked up against each other. The information
remains available online at www.medicare.gov. Click on Nursing Home Compare.
Operators still
are complaining the statistics don't give a true picture and have a negative spin.
"The numbers show only the percentage of residents in the home that do have
pressure sores, not those that don't," said Suzanne Weiss, vice president
of the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, in a national
news conference about the new money Thursday.
In Florida's trial
run, the quality organization had far too many volunteers for its first six training
spots. None of the first homes selected was in South Florida, but the program
will be expanded later this year.
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