Nursing homes leery of Web site Maine administrators say data on deficiencies could be taken out of context

PORTLAND – Nursing home administrators in Maine are reacting warily to a new Web site containing government data collected from all of the nation’s 17,000 nursing homes that receive Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement.

The site, which went online this week, contains information about 121 facilities in Maine.

It lists the number of deficiencies discovered during state inspections and includes the percentage of residents with bedsores, dementia and pain.

Expressing concern that the data could cause confusion, administrators cautioned that data taken out of context could make a well-run nursing home appear to have serious problems.

“As a consumer, I don’t think that information would tell me anything,” said Jean Peck, director of communications and marketing for Cedars Nursing Care Center in Portland. “It is out-of-date, it reflects a population that is not at Cedars anymore. It doesn’t tell you enough. You couldn’t possible make a decision based on that information.”

Maine’s Long Term Care Ombudsman Brenda Gallant, who runs an independent agency that investigates complaints on behalf of patients and their families, said she advises people to visit a facility before placing a family member there.

But even before they do that, they should look at the new Web site, which has been hailed as a major step forward in consumer education.

“Families really know very little about long-term care, and then grandma breaks her hip,” Gallant said. “We typically get a call that says, ‘She has to go into a nursing home, how do I make a judgment?”‘

The administrator of the Barron Center in Portland, Doug Gardiner, said different nursing facilities specialize in caring for people with a range of different needs.

A facility that specializes in taking care of people with more acute needs probably will appear to have statistically high rates of problems, even though the residents are receiving good care.

“It really doesn’t take into account differences between facilities,” he said. “The Web site might be a good starting point, but I don’t think it should be the end of someone’s search.”

Nursing home care in Maine overall compared well with other states, even though the state has unusually high entrance requirements for getting into a nursing home, said Robert Aurilio, chief executive officer of North East Health Care Quality Foundation.

The group offers free training and support for nursing homes in Maine New Hampshire and Vermont.

“From looking at the data, we feel very good that the quality of our nursing homes is really very good,” he said. “Care here is above the national average, and we have met no resistance from facilities on working for improvement.”