Nursing Homes

Every day, American families face difficult decisions about whether to move a loved one into a nursing home. There are nearly 17,000 nursing homes in the United States that currently care for 1.6 million residents -- a figure expected to quadruple to 6.6 million residents by 2050. The quality of care provided by these nursing homes has been the subject of much scrutiny in recent years.

Latest News

Rep. Waxman Introduces Nursing Home Staffing Act of 2005

Rep. Waxman introduces the Nursing Home Staffing Act of 2005, to establish minimum staff requirements for facilities receiving payments under the Medicare or Medicaid Program.

Sex Offenders and Prisoners Being Housed in Nursing Homes

Rep. Waxman, Rep. Brad Carson, and Rep. McCollum request that GAO study the growing problem of sex offenders and prisoners being housed in nursing homes, in some cases resulting in physical and sexual abuse of senior citizens.

HHS Admits “Serious Reservations” About Staffing Level Data

Rep. Waxman, Sen. Grassley, Sen. Edwards, and Sen. Bond write HHS about its recent admission that nursing home staffing level data is unreliable – data nonetheless posted to the HHS website that the department encourages families to use to make nursing home decisions.

HHS Asked to Provide Data on Use of Feeding Assistants

Rep. Waxman and Sen. Grassley request that HHS collect and publicly disseminate information on the number of hours worked by nursing home feeding assistants.

HHS Asked to Consider Minimum Staffing Standards

Rep. Waxman and Sen. Edwards, sponsors of the Nursing Home Staffing Act of 2003, write HHS to request that minimum nursing home staffing standards be implemented as soon as possible.

Many Nursing Homes in Arkansas and DC Still Fail to Meet Federal Standards

Reports by the Special Investigations Division find that the vast majority of nursing homes in Arkansas and the District of Columbia violate federal health standards and fail to meet recommended nurse staffing levels.

Rep. Waxman Introduces Nursing Home Staffing Act of 2003

Rep. Waxman and other members introduce the Nursing Home Staffing Act (H.R. 3355) to establish minimum staffing levels for nursing homes. The bill would implement staffing levels identified by HHS and would require that all residents receive at least four hours of nursing care each day.

New Feeding Assistant Regulation Could Endanger Nursing Home Residents

Rep. Waxman and Sen. Grassley urge HHS Secretary Thompson to reconsider a new regulation that would allow poorly trained and poorly supervised workers to feed nursing home residents. The new regulation could endanger the health of the nation's 1.5 million nursing home residents.

Nursing Home Compare Has Serious Flaw

In a letter to CMS Administrator Tom Scully, Rep. Waxman and Sen. Grassley identify a serious flaw in the HHS Nursing Home Compare website: states are failing to report nursing home violations in a timely fashion.

Nursing Home Conditions in Los Angeles County

A report released by Rep. Waxman found that the vast majority of nursing homes in Los Angeles County continue to violate federal health standards.

Reports on Nursing Home Conditions

Since November 1999, the Special Investigations Division has prepared reports for members on nursing home conditions in Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Texas, Florida, Oklahoma, and other areas. These reports have confirmed that many nursing homes violate federal health and safety standards and that these violations often involve the serious neglect and mistreatment of residents.

Majority of Texas Nursing Homes are Understaffed

A new report released by Rep. Ciro Rodriguez and Rep. Gene Green found that the vast majority of Texas nursing homes are understaffed and fail to comply with federal standards.

Rep. Waxman Introduces Nursing Home Staffing Improvement Act of 2002

Rep. Waxman and other members introduced the Nursing Home Staffing Improvement Act (H.R. 4715) to establish minimum staffing levels for nursing homes. This bill implements staffing levels identified by the Department of Health and Human Services and would require that all nursing home residents receive at least four hours of nursing care each day.

HHS Report Shows Nine of Ten U.S. Nursing Homes Understaffed

The Department of Health and Human Services recently released a comprehensive study that shows “strong and compelling” evidence that nine out of ten U.S. nursing homes are understaffed. Although officially released, Report has not been easily accessible to the public. On April 17, Rep. Waxman and Sen. Grassley sent a letter to CMS Administrator Tom Scully requesting that Report be posted on the HHS website.

HHS Posts Complete Information on Nursing Home Violations

A report released in February by Rep. Waxman and Sen. Charles E. Grassley found that the federal website 'Nursing Home Compare' was incomplete because it did not include tens of thousands of recent violations of federal health standards. Rep. Waxman and Sen. Grassley wrote to HHS Administrator Tom Scully to urge that the information be added to the site, and asked the minority staff to create a temporary searchable database of these complaint violations. In May 2002, HHS began posting the information on their website 'Nursing Home Compare'.

New Report on Nursing Home Care in New Mexico

A new report by the Special Investigations Division finds that many nursing homes in New Mexico are providing substandard care.

New Report on D.C. Nursing Home Care

A new report by the Special Investigations Division for Congresswoman Norton finds that many nursing homes in D.C. are providing substandard care.

Rep. Waxman and Sen. Grassley Object to Efforts to Weaken Federal Nursing Home Regulations

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed weakening nursing home regulations, making it more difficult to cite nursing homes for widespread violations of standards which protect residents from abuse, restraints, pressure sores, and other problems. On November 16, Rep. Waxman and Sen. Charles Grassley sent CMS Administrator Thomas Scully a letter objecting to the Administration proposal.

Bush Administration Nursing Home Proposal

According to news reports, the Bush Adminstration is considering a substantial weakening of the federal protections for nursing home residents. This proposal would reduce the frequency of nursing home inspections and eliminate automatic sanctions on substandard nursing homes. Rep. Waxman has written to the President to explain why this proposal is seriously flawed.

Report on Abuse of Nursing Home Residents

A nationwide report by the Special Investigations Division for Rep. Waxman has found that nearly one-third of nursing homes were cited for a violation involving abuse between January 1999 and January 2001, that many of these abuse violations caused actual harm to residents, and that the number of abuse violations is increasing.

Nursing Home Quality Protection Act of 2001

Rep. Waxman and other members introduced the Nursing Home Quality Protection Act to improve nursing home conditions. This bill provides more funding for nursing homes to recruit and retain staff, institutes minimum nurse staffing levels, imposes tougher sanctions on nursing homes that violate federal health and safety standards, and increases public information about the quality of care provided by nursing homes.

Reports on Nursing Home Staffing

One reason for the poor care received by many nursing home residents is insufficient staffing. In a series of reports for members, the Special Invesigations Division has found that many nursing homes do not have enough staff to meet staffing levels recommended by federal officials and nursing home experts. These reports also indicate that there is a connection between insufficient staffing and poor conditions in nursing homes.

Poor Enforcement of Nursing Home Protections in New York

A report prepared by the Special Investigations Division for Reps. Louise Slaughter and Carolyn Maloney found that the New York State Department of Health has done a poor job of protecting New York's nursing home residents. According to federal inspectors, state inspectors, who are responsible for enforcing federal nursing home standards, committed "egregious omissions" and missed "overwhelming evidence of widespread quality of care problems." Report found that state inspectors often missed disturbing violations, such as the failure to provide proper pain medication or the use of unnecessary physical restraints.

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