A Bridge Michigan investigation finds 5,900 cases of abuse, neglect or care woes at state nursing homes, including nearly three dozen deaths. Advocates say change is needed, but no reform is pending in Lansing.
Senior Health Reporter Robin Erb spent months digging into the support systems around the state that exist for elderly adults and found little hope in what the state is doing to provide safe, affordable and reliable care.
Check out her series here:
Abuse, neglect common in Michigan nursing homes — and no one is coming to help
Bridge’s investigation documented at least 5,915 cases of abuse, neglect, exploitation or quality of life and care violations among the 15,471 total citations for violations ranging from incomplete paperwork to poor care. In all, homes have been fined $21.5 million over the past three years and been denied a total of 6,451 days of Medicaid reimbursements.
While many of Michigan’s 420 homes provide exceptional care, the citations document severe staff shortages and conditions that include mold and gnats, odors of human waste, filth, rodents, flies, isolation and inactivity that left residents staring at walls.
Michigan nursing homes have few staff, little training. Misery can follow
Michigan is sitting on $35.4 million designed to improve quality of life in state nursing homes even as poor conditions persist in some facilities.
The Civil Money Penalty Reinvestment Program has nearly doubled in seven years — growing from just more than $17 million by the end of 2017.
It’s so big — and the federal red tape so tight — that the fund appears poised to simply grow virtually unspent.
Michigan nursing homes have few staff, little training. Misery can follow
Residents of the Mission Point of Beverly Hills awoke hungry on Sept. 6, 2023. No meals were served. Nor did aides come to help immobile residents out of bed to avoid bed sores or make it to the bathroom.
The residents, many of whom had limited or no mobility, had been left on their own for an entire shift, according to a state inspection report. The reason: a lack of staff.
Across Michigan, the state’s most vulnerable residents are living out their last days in what inspection reports characterize as sometimes squalid conditions, because many nursing homes are critically understaffed. Positions are tough to fill because nursing aides are paid less than $40,000 for work that is so physically demanding they have a higher rate of workplace back injuries than construction workers.
Michigan cities balk at costly 911 calls to understaffed nursing homes
Some Michigan cities are now charging nursing homes and other long-term care facilities to respond to nonemergency 911 calls made as a result of inadequate staffing at the facilities.
“I don’t like the word ‘threat,’ but I guess it kind of is,” said Mike Sova, EMS coordinator for Bloomfield Township Fire Department.
In 2019, the township passed an ordinance enabling the department to charge any assisted living, independent living, rehabilitation and “related and/or similar” facilities $200 to help staff lift a person who has fallen for example.
Install cameras, beef up training — and 5 other ways to fix Michigan nursing homes
If Michigan is to hold nursing homes more accountable for the care they provide, the first step might be in looking elsewhere.
Other states have tried reforms with varying levels of success, including New Jersey, New York, California and Minnesota.
And while none have proved perfect or easy to implement, we’re moving in the right direction,” said Katie Squires, associate state director of advocacy at AARP New Jersey, a state that has undertaken several reforms.
A Bridge review of inspection reports and citations in hundreds of nursing homes over five years paint uncovered 6,315 cases of abuse, neglect, exploitation or quality of life and care, including cases of mold and gnats, stale odors of human waste, filth, rodents, flies, boredom and isolation.
Choosing a nursing home can be tough; these tips can help
Too often, there is little choice in nursing home care; it happens after an unexpected hospitalization. Decisions must be made in hours.
And even with time, there are few guarantees.
“Things can go wrong in even the best nursing homes,” said Alison Hirschel, program director and managing attorney of the Michigan Elder Justice Initiative and a decades-long advocate for nursing home residents. “And even in problem nursing homes — those with chronic understaffing and quality issues — there are compassionate, good staff.”
A few tips can help boost the odds of finding the best choice for quality care — and advocating for better care when necessary, she and others told Bridge Michigan.