Teri Koff, LCSW, CMC
Aging Life Care Consultant
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To Lift Ratings, Nursing Homes Shroud Neglect
Assessing Alzheimer's
Preparing More Care of Elderly
Sensors Help Keep the Elderly Safe, and at Home
Economic Gloom Has Dimmed the Golden Years
It's Harder to Age at Home
Can Profits and Nursing Homes Mix
To Protect Medical Privacy
Courageous Decision at Life’s End
Home-Care Services for the Elderly
Growing Old At Home, in Comfort
Medicaid and the Elderly
When Health Care Breaks the Bank
Alzheimer's Sufferers And Their Caretakers
Men Who Shoulder Care for the Elderly
Managed Care For the Elderly
A Mixed Picture Of a Nursing Home
Elder Care Concerns
Challenge for Assisted Living
Geriatric Care Managers
Widen Doors Into Public Housing; Assisted Living
In Rescuing a Relative, a Helping or a Heavy Hand?


To Lift Ratings, Nursing Homes Shroud Neglect

New York Times

Opinion

LETTERS

Nursing Homes: The Good and the Bad

Medical professionals, a social worker and an industry group respond to a front-page article about the five-star rating system.

March 21, 2021

To the Editor:

Re “To Lift Ratings, Nursing Homes Shroud Neglect” (front page, March 14):

I am an elder-care specialist who has witnessed firsthand the less than optimal conditions in nursing homes and long-term care facilities, some of which have even earned five-star ratings.

The information on the Medicare website that tracks these facilities can be misleading and distorted. A lack of surprise inspections and reliance on self-reporting lead to limited disclosure about staffing, infection rates, medication errors, neglect and abuse.

I urge families to research the facilities through in-person visits to observe the environment, ask questions about care and activities, and promote discussions with resident family members.

The pandemic has illuminated deficits in long-term care facilities that must be addressed. Our seniors and loved ones are vulnerable and deserve more than fanciful reports and stars that are ultimately meaningless.

 

 

 

Teri Koff

 

New York

The writer is a social worker.

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