Nursing home injuries due to falls could be inaccurately reported

On Behalf of | Jan 23, 2020 | Nursing Home Injuries

When an Ohio family places a loved one in a nursing home, they expect there to be professional treatment and proper care. However, nursing home injuries can happen for various reasons, including falls. If there has been an injury, it is important that a full investigation be conducted to determine what happened.

Recent research indicates that there might be inaccurate information about resident falls. Nursing Home Compare is used to research nursing homes, but a University of Chicago researcher says there is a disparity between the statistics from Nursing Home Compare and Medicare claims for injuries from falls between 2011 and 2015. Since falls cause the highest number of fatalities for people 65 and older and can lead to serious injuries, this is important research when choosing a facility.

Knowing when a patient has fallen and whether neglect and inattention was a cause can be key. It may be difficult to determine when this has happened, making it essential that facilities are truthful about it. The researcher assessed the number of admissions claims sent to Medicare, split the falls into categories as to when they occurred, examined if hospitalization was needed and when, checked if the Medicare claim was filed as due to a major injury fall, and looked at whether the person went back to the same nursing home after being released from the hospital. She found that nearly 151,000 major injury fall claims were filed by residents. Of those, only 57.5% of the falls were part of Nursing Home Compare’s data.

When nursing homes do not provide the necessary care and people become injured from a fall or for any other reason, it is imperative that the family members understand what happened. A lawyer maybe able to investigate injuries at a nursing home and help with filing a lawsuit for compensation.

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