(ProPublica – Stock Photo)
“In February 2011, a nursing home resident in Michigan wandered away in a blizzard, unnoticed by staff. He was wearing only pajama pants, a sweater, canvas shoes and a knit cap. A technician driving to work found him half an hour later at a busy intersection, wet and covered with snow, government inspectors wrote.
Five months later, a resident at a different Michigan nursing home climbed out of a secured window in the home’s locked dementia ward, hitchhiked a ride and was picked up by police hours later in a restaurant some 65 miles away. Nursing home staff did not even realize he was missing, inspectors found.
Were these incidents, known as “elopement,” isolated? Or do they suggest a pattern? Until recently, no one could really say how often such incidents occur.
“Drawing on government reports posted online last month, today we are launching Nursing Home Inspect — a tool that allows anyone to easily search and analyze the details of recent nursing home inspections, most completed since January 2011. As of today, that includes nearly 118,000 deficiencies cited against 14,565 homes, but we will add more each month as new reports become available.
“Users can search across all the reports by any keyword, such as elope — a feature the federal government’s official nursing home website doesn’t have. The results can then be sorted by both the severity of the violation and by state.
“Although more elderly people are choosing to live at home or in assisted-living facilities, about 1.5 million people still live in nursing homes, according to the 2010 Census. Of those, more than 1.2 million were 65 and older.
“For decades, federal auditors have flagged dangerous and neglectful conditions in U.S. nursing homes and faulted the government’s oversight. As the examples above suggest, the problems haven’t gone away.
“Arguing that awareness is an answer, advocates for nursing home residents have long pressed oversight agencies to make inspection reports readily available to the public. But until last month, consumers, researchers and journalists had to file formal Freedom of Information Act requests to view them — or visit in person, because homes are required by law to make them available.
“Having the reports searchable online will help identify problematic trends and encourage homes to make needed fixes faster, advocates say.
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