Title: 11 area nursing homes on watch list
11 area nursing homes on watch list
May 12, 2005�
By Karen Snelling Post-Tribune staff reporter
Repeated citations for substandard care have put 11 area nursing homes on a national consumer group’s watch list.
The Center for Consumer Health Choices, a unit of the Consumers Union, issued a revised list after evaluating state inspections conducted between January 1999 and March 2003, spokeswoman Lynne M. Grasz said.
“Our list includes facilities with the most questionable patterns of deficiencies,” she said.
That adds up to about 10 percent of the homes in each state.
Statewide, 47 nursing facilities appear on the watch list. Nationwide, the center placed 1,506 nursing homes on its list.
The original watch list, published in October, named 57 Indiana homes. The list was withdrawn , however, after multiple errors were discovered.
For example, of the facilities listed in Indiana, 14 had already shut their doors.
About a third of the homes on the October list were removed after the center reviewed its tabulations, while two-thirds remained on list.
New homes replaced those removed from the lists.
“These findings raise significant concerns that state and federal oversight is failing to improve the quality of care that residents receive throughout the country,” said Trudy Lieberman, director of the Center for Consumer Health Choices.
Andy Zirkle, spokesman for the state health department, declined to comment on the report.
“We don’t know enough about their procedures and the criteria they used to comment,” he said.
Local nursing home administrators claim the watch list, published Wednesday, is based on old data, just like the list published in October.
“Rather than relying on one report based on data that is five to six years old, the best way to judge a nursing home is to visit the facility and talk to residents and their families,” said Beth Ingram, administrator for Valparaiso Care and Rehabilitation Center.
The nursing home has landed on the watch list twice since 2000, but Ingram said her 168-bed facility has always been in substantial compliance with state and federal regulations.
Ingram said her nursing facility is one of the few in Lake and Porter counties that is participating in a Medicare quality improvement program designed to set benchmark standards for care.
The Lowell Healthcare Center was placed on the watch list for the first time last year.
But significant improvements have been made at the 90-bed home since then.
“I’ve only been here since December,” administrator Debbie Waziak said. “And we’ve made a lot of changes to improve the quality of service we will offer.”
Lee Seflers, administrator for Whispering Pines Healthcare Center, said the 138-bed facility landed on the watch list even though it has one of the best compliance rates in Valparaiso.
Seflers said the state health department cited the facility for three minor violations during the most recent inspection done in August 2004.
“There are more then 500 regulations that we were surveyed on,” Seflers said. “My mission is to take care of people and that’s what we do.”
She said Whispering Pines was likely put on the watch list because of a survey conducted almost five and a half years ago.
“We disagree with the survey and we’re still appealing the survey result,” Seflers said.
Contact Karen Snelling at 648-3106 or [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Nursing Homes on Consumer Watch List
Eleven local nursing home facilities were placed on this national list after revised state inspections between 1999 and 2003 were made public. They are listed as follows:
Nursing HomeAddress
Colonial Nursing Home119 N. Indiana Ave., Crown Point
Crestmark of Roselawn10352 N. 600E, DeMotte
Highland Nursing & Rehabilitation9630 Fifth St., Highland
Lake County Nursing & Rehabilitation5025 McCook Ave., East Chicago
Lowell Healthcare Center710 Michigan St., Lowell
Regency Place of Dyer2300 Great Lakes Drive, Dyer
Timberview Health Care Center2350 Taft St., Gary
Towne Centre Health Care7250 Arthur Blvd.,Merrillville
Valparaiso Care and Rehabilitation606 Wall St., Valparaiso
Whispering Pines Health Care Center3301 N. Calumet Ave., Valparaiso
Wittenberg Lutheran Village1200 E. Luther Dr., Crown Point
Source: Center for Consumer Health Choices at Consumers Union
