Regulators Defend Idaho’s Nursing Home Inspection System

State and federal health officials are defending their regulation of long-term care facilities after a Nampa nursing home recently came under fire for mistreating its residents.

Steven Chickering, a regional administrator with the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services said that the system is working as it is supposed to be, but it is also continually being improved.

Surveyors inspect Idaho’s 78 nursing homes roughly every nine to 16 months. A nursing home will receive more inspections if a complaint is lodged.

Four of the seven nursing homes in Nampa and Caldwell were fined nearly $4,800 over the past three years.

Earlier this month, an Idaho Health and Welfare Department report cited the Holly Lane Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center for widespread problems that included residents sitting in their own waste and failing to provide sufficient around-the-clock care.