With articles about nursing home abuse and neglect seeming to come out every other day, it may come as a surprise that, according to government data, the quality of care in these facilities is actually improving.
According to a newly released report, "the long-term and skilled nursing care community's commitment to ongoing and sustained quality is paying off with positive trends in quality measures, quality indicators and patient outcomes."
The report found that skilled nursing and post-acute care providers are enhancing the quality of their care across the board. And apparently, this isn't a new trend—nursing facility treatment quality has been steadily getting better for the past several years.
Between 2009 and 2010, nursing facilities provided enhanced care for seniors in nine out of ten categories, including; pain, mobility, delirium, and pressure ulcers. The only category where there was visible regression was physical restraint.
For the report, American Health Care Associations and the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care compiled data gathered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and recruited expert opinion to conclude that nursing facilities are continuing to up the ante on their care quality.