Any business must make a profit in order to continue its existence. The danger for nursing home residents is that the most probable way nursing homes will have to adjust to reduced income and reimbursement is to decrease the number of staff to take care of their patients.

Our clients already report incidents which make it clear that nursing homes are frequently understaffed. For example one of our clients who needed help to go to the restroom had to call out for help to anyone passing by in the hallway because his call bell was not being answered. He was ignored and eventually tried to go to the bathroom by himself, fell and broke his hip. The fall could just as easily have resulted in a blow to his head, brain damage and death.

Understaffed nursing homes are unlikely to be able to provide sufficient care to prevent bedsores. A bedsore prevention program requires that the nurses turn and reposition their patients every two hours. If there are not enough people in the nursing home staff, it will be difficult for the nurses simply to remember to turn and reposition each patient much less to actually do it. Bedsores can become infected since intact skin is the body’s best defense to infection. Especially in light of some of the new “superbugs,” these infections can cause death.

When legislatures and the federal government are considering reduction in the reimbursement for nursing home care, they should also consider the likelihood of a substantially increased death rate for nursing home patients. At Zimmet & Quarles we urge you to contact your legislators, especially the Florida Legislature,  to ask them to consider the real dangers of reducing nursing home reimbursement.