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Title
Nursing Home Report Cards Now Online from SeniorCare Resources!
Description
Why are nursing homes inspected?
The same act which authorizes Medicare / Medicaid to pay for nursing home stays naturally also lays many requirements upon those homes which choose to participate in the program. Since about 60% of nursing home income derives from Medicare / Medicaid, this, in effect, means that very nearly every nursing home must meet these program requirements. The inspections are to certify that a nursing home has substantially met the requirements, and therefore can be awarded a contract to be paid.
HCFA, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, in its role as keeper of the Medicare purse strings, has promulgated plenty of regulations affecting nursing homes, and continues to multiply them. Among these are regulations which determine how the inspections are carried on. States are handed a "State Operations Manual" which lays it all out.
A nursing home may be inspected because it is new, has just applied for a Medicare contract, and so it is being inspected for compliance the first time.
