Nursing Homes Receive More Bad Press

Since the beginning of the month, the nursing home crises have appeared as front-page articles in The New York Times. On September 2, 2021, four residents in Louisiana died after being transferred from their long-term care facility to a warehouse during Hurricane Ida. Consequently, the state revoked the license of the operator.

Next, on September 11, 2021, the headline in The New York Times was, “Phony Diagnoses Hide High Rates of Drugging at Nursing Homes.” The investigative reporters found that at least 21% of residents received at least one antipsychotic medication and that 1 in 9 nursing home residents have been diagnosed with schizophrenia despite the absence of a history of this condition in the individuals past medical records.

The implication was that nursing homes have inadequate numbers of staff; therefore, the physicians falsely document the diagnosis of schizophrenia to avoid violating federal unnecessary medication regulations.

Finally, the article on psychotropic medications was the basis of the segment of The Daily, and the podcast from The Times was released on September 14, 2021.  During the final 5 minutes of the 30-minute podcast, the reporters discussed the causes of the overuse of antipsychotic agents as the impact of COVID-19 on furthering the staffing shortages and the increase in for-profit long-term care facilities that had such small profit margins that reducing staff was the only way in which the buildings could be profitable. The report stated that antipsychotics were used as an alternative to nursing staffing.

These articles come on the heels of the scandal of Andrew Cuomo who resigned as governor of New York due to multiple allegations of sexual harassment as well as the undercounting of the deaths of nursing home residents due to COVID-19.

The cumulative effect is a blanketing of bad news about nursing home care implying a pervasive pattern of poor care in the eyes of the public. This contributes to the negative perceptions of care and the vilification of staff.  We are inundated with bad press and a public that expects nothing but headlines that highlight poor care. 

It has been a bad few weeks. Let’s hope we can reverse the course.

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