Aging vets
They deserve better care at nursing homes.
With Independence Day fast approaching, our country will soon celebrate the sacrifices our military personnel have made to maintain our country’s freedom. Grateful citizens would like to believe that our nation demonstrates this appreciation all year by taking care of our aging service members, who are ensconced in good hands at quality nursing homes.
Unfortunately, facts don’t always jive with our national hopes and dreams. For the first time, the Department of Veteran Affairs has listed its ratings of the 133 nursing homes it runs across the country, and it’s clear that too many veterans who may have risked their lives for our country will be spending the Fourth of July in underperforming facilities.
Although VA officials have tracked quality and safety measures for years, the agency has kept the information secret, potentially depriving veterans and their families of crucial health care information.
In-depth data on quality is essential to drive improvements across the VA nursing home system. The entire Texas delegation should throw its weight behind a bipartisan measure that passed the U.S. Senate last week that would require information gathered on VA nursing home performance to be published annually.
In its public assessments, each VA nursing home facility received an overall rating ranging from one to five stars. Texas — which boasts the second-largest veteran population in the country — had four of the worst performing VA nursing homes based on 2017 data.
In addition, it was disclosed that people in more than 100 VA nursing homes had more bedsores, more pain, more catheters in their bladders, which can lead to urinary or blood infections, and received more antipsychotic medicine than their counterparts in private nursing homes, according to internal documents obtained pursuant to a USA Today/Boston Globe report.
A VA statement in response noted that its nursing homes often serve residents with more numerous and challenging medical conditions than do private sector facilities. Specifically, VA nursing homes serve a much higher proportion of residents with conditions such as prostate obstruction, spinal cord injury, mental illness, homelessness and PTSD.
But our military has a no-excuses culture, and there should be no excuse for inferior care for our aging vets.
The statement also points out that the VA has a lower percentage of one-star, or lowest-rated, facilities than the private sector. While we should strive to treat all elderly patients with respect, any shortfall in the private sector shouldn’t let the VA off the hook.
Veterans and their families deserve better care and the best information available about their nursing home options.