Alert On Nursing Home In Texas

Many families are becoming increasingly concerned about the conditions in nursing homes. Federal law requires that nursing homes “provide services and activities to attain or maintain the highest practicable physical, mental, and psychosocial well-being of each resident.” But recent studies by the U.S. General Accounting Office and others have indicated that many nursing homes fail to meet federal health standards.

To address these growing concerns, Reps. Ciro D. Rodriguez and Gene Green asked the Special Investigations Division of the minority staff of the Committee on Government Reform to investigate the conditions in nursing homes in the state of Texas. There are 1,148 nursing homes in Texas that accept residents covered by Medicaid or Medicare. These facilities serve almost 85,000 residents. This report examines the results of state inspections to assess conditions in the nursing homes.

The report finds that there are serious deficiencies in many of the nursing homes in Texas. Eighty-six percent of Texas nursing homes violated federal health standards during recent state inspections. Over one-third of the nursing homes had violations that caused actual harm to residents or placed them at risk of death or serious injury. Moreover, over 90% of the nursing homes in Texas did not meet the recommended minimum staffing levels identified by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Many nursing homes in Texas had violations that caused actual harm to residents. Of the 1,148 nursing homes in Texas, 443 facilities – 39% of all facilities – had a violation that caused actual harm to nursing home residents or placed them at risk of death or serious injury (see Figure 1). The 443 nursing homes with actual harm violations or worse serve 37,417 residents and are estimated to receive over $440 million each year in federal and state funds.

Most nursing homes in Texas did not provide adequate staffing. During their most recent annual inspections, the vast majority of nursing homes in Texas – 1,060 of the 1,124 facilities for which staffing data was available (94%) – did not meet minimum staffing levels identified by HHS in a recent report to Congress (see Figure 2). Compared to other states, Texas nursing homes rank 43rd in the nation in hours of nursing care provided to residents each day.

Texas nursing homes that failed to meet the minimum staffing levels were over three times as likely to have violations that caused actual harm to residents compared to nursing homes that met all minimum staffing levels.

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