A report from State Auditor Rob Sand’s office indicates state officials are not inspecting Iowa nursing homes as often as required by federal law. Nursing homes are to be inspected, on average, every 12.9 months. Sand found the average in Iowa is about four months longer than that.
Iowa had about 46 inspectors overseeing more than 400 nursing homes in the previous fiscal year and this spring Republican lawmakers decided that was sufficient. Sand disagrees.
The most recent federal data shows nearly 20-thousand residents were living in Iowa nursing homes are certified to care for Medicare and Medicaid patients. Staffing at Iowa’s nursing homes remains an issue. Sand’s review found, for example, 54 percent of nurses who had worked in a nursing home quit the facility within the past 12 months.
Sand made his comments earlier Monday during an online news conference.
