Nursing home abuse occurs when physical or mental harm is caused to a nursing home resident from mistreatment or substandard facilities. To prevent this, nursing homes in Rhode Island are monitored by both federal and state agencies. The Centers for Medicine & Medicaid Services (CMS) is part of the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that assists in monitoring nursing homes that accept Medicare and Medicaid. Recently, CMS created a list of nursing homes around the country, including two from Rhode Island, which have serious quality of care issues.
Why Were RI Nursing Homes Put On The National Watch List?
CMS visits nursing homes nationally on a regular basis to ensure that they are providing care in compliance with Medicaid and Medicare standards. To address facilities with an inconsistent compliance history or repeat cycles of serious deficiencies, CMS created the Special Focus Facility (SFF) initiative to identify and list the most problematic nursing homes in the country. Two Rhode Island nursing homes were placed on this list for significant quality issues. When a facility fails to provide an adequate standard of care, this could amount to nursing home abuse. In many cases, physical and emotional injuries can result if the nursing home is not taking care of their residents.
Does The State Monitor Nursing Homes?
In conjunction with the federal government, the Rhode Island Department of Health oversees nursing home licensing, certification and quality of care in the state. They inspect nursing homes to ensure that they are in compliance with federal standards associated with Medicare and Medicaid programs and document any problems in a Statement of Deficiencies report. When nursing homes are not in compliance, residents can suffer from nursing home abuse in the form of injuries such as bed sores, broken bones, medical errors and emotional harm. If this occurs, you may want to consider speaking with a Rhode Island nursing home abuse lawyer.
Speak With A Rhode Island Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer
Nursing home abuse causes serious physical, mental and emotional injuries. If you or someone you know has suffered from nursing home abuse, you may be entitled to compensation for your medical expenses, pain and suffering or other losses. Our firm is working with experienced nursing home lawyers who have experience with these types of lawsuits. There are no legal fees unless you receive a settlement or award. For a free (no obligation) case evaluation, call use toll free at 1-800-992-6878 or fill out a contact form online.
Paul d’Oliveira
Attorney Paul d’Oliveira has been practicing personal injury and disability law for over 30 years. He started his personal injury law practice in 1989 with two offices in Fall River, MA and East Providence, RI. Today his firm has 16 offices in RI and Southeastern, MA.
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