Nursing Care Defended

Instead of working with the nursing home industry to improve the quality of service, this self-appointed advocacy group chooses to expend its energy spewing inflammatory and alarmist rhetoric which preys upon the emotions and fears of the general public through exaggeration and misrepresentation (“Nursing Home Called Among Worst in State,” Aug. 4)

The truth is that the nursing home industry is the most highly regulated and carefully scrutinized segment of the health care industry in this country. California’s surveyors conduct 200 to 300 hours of inspections annually in each nursing facility to assure compliance with more than 900 separate requirements. California’s nursing homes have an average compliance rate of 97.5%; that’s an “A” in anyone’s book.

Our industry has always recognized and actively advocated the interrelationship between appropriate staffing levels, qualifications and high-quality care. There is a continuing trend of improvement in employee retention, enhanced wage and benefit packages, quality management programs and education and training.

The changes affecting our aging population are profound and complex. Thanks to scientific advancements, Americans are living longer; however, with extended life expectancies come the challenges, responding each day to the immediate needs and concerns of hundreds of thousands of long-term care residents and their families and preparing, through ongoing education and training, for the unforeseen new demands of tomorrow.

GARY D. MACOMBER

Sacramento

Gary Macomber is executive vice president of the California Assn. of Health Facilities.