A recent study conducted by researchers at UC San Francisco concluded that consumers considering a nursing home should also ask ‘who owns this place’?  The study found that among the nation’s 10 largest for-profit nursing home chains the quality of care delivered to patients was significantly lower than their non-for-profit counterparts.  The main reason: staffing … Read more →

When you enter the hospital for a health care concern, you are usually not focused on the question of  ‘what else could go wrong with me while I am here?”.  Yet, a recent study by the Institute of Healthcare Improvement based out of Cambridge, MA reported that one in three persons will be affected by … Read more →

As reported recently by the Indianapolis Star, The Wesley Healthcare nursing home in Auburn, Indiana was recently cited for sending a patient to the hospital and refusing to take the patient back after the physicians found no reason to keep him there.  The patient was forced to live for 5 days in an emergency room … Read more →

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has issued a report that finds that 1 in 7 Medicare patients suffered an “adverse event” while hospitalized. THE KEY FINDINGS INCLUDED THE FOLLOWING: An estimated 13.5 percent of hospitalized Medicare beneficiaries experienced adverse events during their hospital stays. This rate projects to an estimated 134,000 Medicare … Read more →

In a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers reported that harm resulting from medical care was “common,” with approximately 1 in 5 patients harmed after admission to the hospital.  The study found that some patients are harmed more than once, and that a significant majority (63.1%) of the injuries could … Read more →