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Widespread Nursing Home evictions put patients at risk

Despite the industry’s claims that evictions are uncommon, nursing homes across the nation are increasingly forcing out frail and ill residents. 

According to The Wall Street Journal, formal complaints about discharge practices have doubled over a decade, to 8,500 nationally in 2006. 

In Iowa, involuntary discharges have risen even as the number of nursing-home beds has declined.

And in Washington, D.C., roughly 1 in 7 evictions are contested as improper.  Officials in more than a dozen other states have expressed concern, arguing that facilities surpass legal boundaries in seeking to evict those who are merely inconvenient or too costly. 

While residents with dementia or demanding families are often evicted, those who depend on Medicaid to pay their bills are often the most vulnerable. 

The problem largely boils down to money: residents on Medicaid pay facilities as little as half of those who pay out-of-pocket, with private health insurance, or through Medicare. 

“It is inexcusable and unlawful for nursing homes to evict residents for these reasons,” said Ruben Burks, Secretary-Treasurer of the Alliance for Retired Americans.  “Officials must step in to protect patients, particularly those on Medicaid.”