Nursing Homes Criticize Attorney General’s Report on Quality of Care in State

Officials for some nursing homes that were cited in a recent state report for patient care violations say that "infractions were exaggerated for the sake of headlines" and argue that the "inspections were nothing more than political grandstanding" by Attorney General Bill Lockyer (D), the San Diego Union-Tribune reports (Hasemyer, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2/23). An attorney general's office report released last month revealed that surprise inspections of 112 nursing homes in the state between 2001 and 2003 found that 68% of nursing homes did not comply with a state mandate requiring each resident to receive at least 3.2 hours of care each day. The inspection program, "Operation Guardians," was created in 2000 to address concerns about the quality of care in the state's 1,400 nursing homes (California Healthline, 1/22). "If you look hard enough you can find something anyplace," Glen Larson, president of Country Hills Health Care Center in El Cajon, said, adding, "That doesn't mean the operation is terrible, but if you look at it the way these reports were presented, you'd think everything was terrible." Betsy Hite, director of public affairs for the California Association of Health Facilities, said Operation Guardians was unnecessary, noting, "There are a myriad agencies that look hard at nursing homes. We already are held to high standards." But Collin Wong, director of medical fraud and elder abuse for Lockyer's office said, "This is far from grandstanding. This is standing up for the frail people who cannot stand up for themselves." He added that he is "concerned about the cavalier and dismissive statements" of the nursing homes, noting that even issues that seem small can become threats to patients (San Diego Union-Tribune, 2/23).