Secret VA nursing home ratings hide poor quality care from the public. The Department of Veterans Affairs has tracked detailed quality statistics on its 133 nursing homes for years, but has kept them from public view, depriving veterans of potentially crucial health care information. Nearly half of VA nursing homes nationwide — 60 — received the agency's lowest ranking of one out of five stars as of Dec. 31, 2017, according to internal documents obtained in an investigation by USA TODAY and "The Boston Globe." The statistics paint a picture of government nursing homes that scored worse on average than their private-sector counterparts on nine of 11 key indicators last year, including rates of antipsychotic drug prescription and residents’ deterioration. In some cases, the VA ratings were only slightly worse. In others, such as the number of residents who are in pain, the VA nursing homes scored dramatically worse. Ref. USAToday.
Secret data: Most VA nursing homes have more residents with bed sores, pain, than private facilities. An analysis of internal documents shows residents at more than two thirds of Department of Veterans Affairs nursing homes last year were more likely to have serious bed sores, as well as suffer serious pain, than their counterparts in private nursing homes across the country. The analysis suggests that large numbers of veterans suffered potential neglect or medication mismanagement and provide a fuller picture of the state of care in the 133 VA nursing homes that serve 46,000 sick and infirm military veterans each year. VA has withheld the data from public view, but USA TODAY and The Boston Globe obtained it and are publishing it here for the first time. Ref. USAToday.
This is how the government provides for our veterans. Prisoners and illegal immigrants are treated with much more and better respect than the men and women who fought for us to live free. Remember it is the land of the free because of the brave and we treat them worse than we treat anyone else. I hope something is done to change these deplorable conditions especially before I have to go to one.