Northern Virginia and Washington D.C. Medical Malpractice and Personal Injury Lawyers’ Blog

Three Virginia Nursing Homes Listed Among Nation's Worst

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently released its list of the worst nursing homes in the United States. Among the 131 nursing homes cited were three from Virginia -- Beacon Shores Nursing & Rehabilitation in Virginia Beach, Ruxton Health of Woodbridge, and Harbour Pointe M & R Center in Norfolk.

Nursing homes were placed on the list based upon findings made by inspection teams. Criteria employed by the inspection teams included: (1) whether a nursing home had more deficiencies involving quality of care matters than an average nursing home; (2) whether a nursing home had more serious deficiencies involving quality of care matters than an average nursing home; and (3) whether a nursing home had a pattern of serious problems that has persisted over a long period of time.


The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services make the following suggestions regarding the selection of a nursing home:

• Visit the nursing home and talk to staff, residents and other families
  
• Ask to see the results from the last State or CMS survery
• Look at the survey history of the nursing home on Nursing Home Compare to see what areas may be problematic
• Ask the nursing home staff what they are doing to improve quality of care for residents in the nursing home
• Call the State survey agency to find out more about the nursing home
• Look to see if the nursing home has been placed on the the Special Focus Facility (SFF) Initiative by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in the past and see how long the nursing home remained on that list
• Call your local State Ombudsman, Administration on Aging, and local groups to find out about the nursing home
• Use the "Nursing Home Brochure" found at http://www.medicare.gov/Publications/Pubs/pdf/nursinghome.pdf and "Guide to Choosing a Nursing Home" at http://www.medicare.gov/Publications/Pubs/pdf02174.pdf
  

Another Frivilous Lawsuit Myth Debunked

In previous blogs, we have disputed claims by proponents of medical malpractice tort reform that insurance premiums are rising as a result of an increase in medical malpractice claims. A recent study out of the Suffolk University Law School offers further support for our position.

Examining malpractice insurance premiums in the State of Massachusetts from 1975 to 2005, the authors of this study found that medical malpractice premiums have actually declined from 1990 to 2005 for virtually all physicians practicing in Massachusetts. The authors noted that because Massachusetts has the fourth-highest median malpractice payouts of all states, if there was a premium crisis due to the number of lawsuit settlements, it should logically occur in Massachusetts

The authors proved yet again that malpractuce premiums are not higher than ever and that there is no premium crisis. Their study demonstrates the fallacy of such arguments, noting that the proponents of such arguments fail to account for inflation, discounts offered by insurance companies to increase their market share, and the historical rise and fall cycle in insurance underwriting.

Moreover, national figures published by the American Medical Association support the fact that malpractice insurance premiums do not have a significant impact on a physician's ability to practice medicine. These figures show that premiums make up 7 percent of total practice costs for all physicians.