WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th November, 2019) Better US Federal government oversight is needed to protect the residents of nursing homes across the United States from abuse, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report on Thursday.
"In light of the increased number and severity of abuse deficiencies, it is imperative that CMS [Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services] have strong nursing home oversight in place to protect residents from abuse," the report said.
However, the GAO noted that it found oversight gaps that may limit the agency's ability to do so while facility-reported incidents lacked key information and gaps exist in the CMS process for state survey agency referrals to law enforcement.
Information on abuse and perpetrator types was not readily available as identified CMS's data did not allow for the type of abuse or perpetrator to be readily by the agency, the report pointed out.
In an earlier report, the GAO made a recommendation that the CMS require state survey agencies to submit data on abuse and perpetrator type and the Department of Health and Human Services concurred. As of November 2019, the Department had not implemented the recommendation.
