Maine narrowly maintained its status as one America’s best nursing home states, reports Families for Better Care, a national nursing home resident advocacy group based in Austin. The group published its third state-by-state nursing home report card by analyzing eight federal measures to gauge nursing home quality.
Maine’s nursing home ranking was bolstered by scoring “A’s” in half of the graded measures, but declines in nearly every category hampered this year’s report card.
“Mainers should be cautiously optimistic about the state’s nursing home care,” said Brian Lee, Families for Better Care’s executive director.
According to the report card, while Maine nursing homes continued to rank among the best in caregiver hours per resident, 20 percent fewer facilities were able to score an above average rating in direct care staffing, exposing a crack in nursing home quality. This decline is an underlying reason for the state’s more than 10 percent increase in nursing homes with deficiencies—the highest amount in any report card.
Despite some areas of concern in nursing home quality, there was a significant bright spot for residents.
“A declining percentage of nursing homes with severe deficiencies means much safer care for Maine’s most vulnerable population,” Lee said. “If Maine nursing homes maintain their commitment to hiring the necessary caregiver services for residents, the state’s top 10 ranking is an almost guaranteed certainty for years to come.”
Maine’s 2019 Nursing Home Report Card is available for download at http://www.nursinghomereportcards.com.
ABOUT FAMILIES FOR BETTER CARE
Families for Better Care, Inc. is a non-profit citizen advocacy group dedicated to creating public awareness of the conditions in our nation’s nursing homes and developing solutions for improving quality of life and care. For more information, visit http://familiesforbettercare.com.
