GOLDEN, Colo., Dec. 6 (UPI) -- A Golden, Colo., study indicates U.S. nursing home deficiencies causing harm to residents declined from 2003 to 2004, but patient abuse remained steady.
HealthGrades, a healthcare ratings organization, said actual harm to nursing home patients dropped from 7.0 percent in 2003 to 6.5 percent last year, while patient abuse remained at 17 percent of complaints.
Overall, the deficiencies cited per nursing home declined 2.0 percent from 2003 to 2004, the analysis found.
"We are not seeing the declines in actual harm to the nation's 1.6 million nursing home residents that we should," said Dr. Samantha Collier, vice president of medical affairs for HealthGrades. "But we did discover ... the top 10 nursing homes in each state tend to have nearly half as many beds as the worst 10 in each state -- something everyone should think about when choosing a nursing home."
The ratings for each of 15,375 Medicare/Medicaid certified nursing homes are available at www.healthgrades.com.
