More than 40 percent of nursing homes fail to meet sanitary standards for food and nearly 30 percent fail to meet standards for maintaining residents' personal cleanliness, according to the government's first consumer guide to nursing homes.
The survey also found that more than one-fourth of the nursing homes do not administer drugs properly.The guide, which is to be released next week, was conceived by Medicare and Medicaid program administrator William L. Rober, according to The Washington Post, which reported Thursday on Rober's results.
The guide shows how each of the 15,000 nursing homes fared on 32 health, safety and care standards based on periodic inspections by state agencies, the newspaper said in Thursday's editions.
According to the survey, nearly 43 percent of the homes failed to meet sanitary standards for food. Almost 30 percent failed to meet standards for maintaining residents' personal cleanliness and 29 percent failed to administer drugs according to doctors' orders.