Editorial: Applying public pressure

Sunday, Dec. 2, 2007 | 1:14 a.m.

The federal government has grown impatient with nursing homes that have not made any substantial improvement even after being repeatedly cited for deficiencies by federal and state inspectors.

What is aggravating about these homes is that they continually fall out of compliance with federal regulations but usually manage to provide the minimum care necessary to remain eligible to bill Medicare and Medicaid for their patient services.

That is good enough for them, perhaps, but not good enough for their patients or the families of their patients. And it's never been good enough for the lawmakers and the members of advocacy groups who have long pressured Medicare and Medicaid officials to make it easier for consumers to learn which nursing homes are substandard.

On Thursday federal health officials responded by making public a list of 56 nursing homes in 33 states that they contend are consistently underperforming.

The list was compiled and released at the request of Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, ranking member of the Senate Committee on Finance, which is responsible for Medicare and Medicaid legislation.

In his letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, Grassley said many nursing homes "yo-yo in and out of compliance by using grace periods to correct deficiencies temporarily."

In publishing the list, the agency said, it was hoping public disclosure would put pressure on the offending nursing homes to make permanent improvements.

Just one of the homes on the list is in Nevada - the Evergreen Mountain View Health and Rehabilitation Center in Carson City. The administrator told the Associated Press that his facility landed on the list because of a survey in April, even though a survey in October showed improvement.

We support the public outing of underperforming nursing homes. But we think the list should document only those nursing homes that are in the "yo-yo" cycle and not those genuinely on the path to improvement.

We hope all the nursing homes listed feel the pressure and make improvements that will last, and not until just after the next inspection.