verbal abuse and staff perpetrators most common" width="650" height="278" />To protect vulnerable nursing home residents from abuse, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) contracts with state agencies—known as survey agencies—that can cite nursing homes for incidents of abuse.
Abuse citations doubled from 2013-2017. We reviewed a 2016-2017 sample of narratives substantiating abuse citations and determined that physical and mental/verbal abuse were more common than sexual abuse, and that perpetrators were often staff.
CMS can't readily access this information, which it could use to improve its oversight by focusing on the most prevalent problems. Our recommendations address this and other issues we found.
Nursing Home Abuse by Type and Perpetrator among the Sample of Narratives in Our Review
verbal abuse and staff perpetrators most common" width="650" height="278" />
Bar chart showing physical and mental/verbal abuse and staff perpetrators most common
