By William J. Beerman, Sr.
Residents of Las Cruces, NM have a challenging job ahead of them if they need to choose a nursing home. Eighty-four percent of the city’s certified nursing home beds are in homes that are rated “Below Average” or “Much Below Average,” according to ratings current as of November 26, 2019 on the federal government’s web site, Medicare.gov.
Las Cruces, a city of 102,000, is the second largest city in New Mexico. (If you’re not from Las Cruces, you can learn how to find the ratings and other details about nursing homes in your area by clicking here.)
A recent rating drop from “Average” to “Below Average” for Good Samaritan Society, Las Cruces Village, means four of the six government-certified nursing homes in Las Cruces are now rated “Below Average” or “Much Below Average.” Further, a warning icon (a white palm-out hand in a red circle) has been added to the rating for Casa Del Sol Center to indicate that nursing home has been cited for abuse.
As of late-November, 434 of the city’s 514 government-certified nursing home beds are in homes rated “Below Average” or “Much Below Average,” so uninformed persons choosing a nursing home in Las Cruces have an 84 percent chance of finding themselves or a loved one in a below-average or much-below-average-rated nursing home.
Currently, an estimated 339 people per day are staying in Las Cruces nursing homes that are rated “Below Average” or “Much Below Average.”
In October, three of Las Cruces’ six nursing homes were rated “One Star,” or “Much Below Average,” by Medicare.gov, the federal website that rates nursing homes on a five-star scale. Two of the six were rated “Three Stars” (“Average”) and one was rated “Five Stars,” (“Much Above Average”). I posted details of the ratings prevailing in October in an October 22 article entitled Finding a Nursing Home When Half of the City’s Nursing Homes Are Rated Much Below Average. The article included comments by spokespersons for the New Mexico Department of Health, the management of four of the nursing homes, and one of the city’s two hospitals.
Generally, nursing home spokespersons said Medicare.gov ratings may reflect conditions that have already been corrected; the ratings do not include customer satisfaction data; and the overall ratings are composites of subcategory ratings on matters such as staffing and clinical outcomes that may be higher than the overall rating and particularly important to individual patients. They recommend consumers visit nursing homes as part of the decision-making process. They also recommend searching for customer satisfaction information on the internet rather than relying solely on Medicare.gov.
Regarding the red Abuse icon that appeared on Casa Del Sol’s rating subsequent to the October article, Lori Mayer, a spokesperson for three Las Cruces nursing homes, said, “The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently began flagging skilled nursing centers cited for abuse, neglect, and exploitation. We support making relevant, transparent information available to make informed care decisions. However, we recommend prospective patients review all information provided by CMS because the flag remains on the site long after the relevant issue has been resolved.” Ms. Mayer is the spokesperson for Casa De Oro and Casa Del Sol, which each have one star (much below average), and for The Village at Northrise, Desert Willow 1, which has five stars (much above average).
Speaking for the State of New Mexico Aging and Long-Term Services Department (ALTSD), Sarah Jacobs, general counsel for ALTSD, provided the following statement after reviewing an advance copy of this article.
“Improving the quality of our long-term care facilities is a top priority for Secretary [Katrina] Hotrum-Lopez and the entire administration. The Department of Health (DOH) licenses long-term care facilities and oversees their compliance. ALTSD works closely with DOH, through joint protocol to better serve our nursing home residents.
“Additionally, ALTSD runs the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program, which is a resident-centered advocacy program that assists residents by protecting their health, safety, welfare, and rights. The Ombudsman Program is also a way to push facilities to improve their quality of care.
“Residents of any long-term care facility in New Mexico also have federally guaranteed rights, including the right to present grievances, the right to be fully informed, and the right to dignity, respect, and freedom. If residents or their families have concerns, they should reach out to the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program for assistance — the toll free number is 1-866-451-2901.”
The October 22 article discussed how a rule change by CMS will require that hospitals discharging patients to nursing homes provide help with discharge planning and selection of an appropriate nursing home or other care provider. The change becomes effective November 29. Nevertheless, choosing will be problematic because the two nursing homes in Las Cruces not rated below- or much-below-average have only 50 and 30 beds respectively.
In October, the three Las Cruces nursing homes rated “One-Star” on the Medicare.gov Five-Star Rating System contained 66 percent of the 514 Medicare- or Medicaid-certified nursing home beds in the city. The three nursing homes continuing into November with a “One-Star” rating are Invigorate Post Acute of Las Cruces, Casa De Oro Center, and Casa Del Sol Center. Good Samaritan Society — Las Cruces Village, previously rated “Three Stars,” “Average,” dropped to “Two Stars,” “Below Average,” in November. Welbrook Senior Living, Las Cruces, LLC rose from “Three Stars,” “Average,” to “Four Stars,” “Above Average,” and The Village at Northrise, Desert Willow 1, continues to be rated “Five Stars,” or “Much Above Average.”
Regarding the abuse icon for Casa Del Sol, abuse is defined on Medicare.gov as the willful infliction of injury, unreasonable confinement, intimidation, or punishment with resulting physical harm, pain, or mental anguish. It includes verbal abuse, sexual abuse, physical abuse, and mental abuse.
More information about nursing homes – including how to look up information about nursing homes in your area –- can be found in the article from October mentioned above. Also, information about nursing homes is available at my website www.wbeerman.com or at my Facebook page, Nursing Home Monitor
Medicare.gov contains an explanation of its ratings and details about specific nursing homes, including the most recent inspection report.
Copies of this article were emailed in advance directly to selected entities listed in the following paragraph. The list only includes job titles, but the emails were sent to specific named individual office holders to enable them to be aware of the situation described in the articles.
Administrator, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; the two U.S. Senators for New Mexico; a U.S. Senator and a Congresswoman who sponsored the Quality Care for Nursing Home Residents Act of 2019; the U.S. Congresswoman for Las Cruces; the New Mexico Governor, and Secretaries of Health and Aging and Long-Term Services; the chairperson of the New Mexico House Committee on Health and Human Services; a New Mexico State Senator for Las Cruces; a New Mexico State Representative for Las Cruces; the Mayor, City Councilors, and City Councilors-elect for Las Cruces; the American Health Care Association; the New Mexico Health Care Association; the Las Cruces nursing homes mentioned in the articles; and the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care.
William J. Beerman, Sr., is the author of the book, “Mary Regina’s Nursing Home,” which is intended to help consumers prepare for a possible nursing home stay for themselves or a loved one, and improve the outcomes of their nursing home experiences.