Sen. Chuck Grassley, ranking member of the Committee on Finance and a longtime advocate of improving nursing home care, made the following comment on the national implementation of the administration’s nursing home quality initiative.
“I support the administration’s focus on nursing home quality. This project can go a long way toward helping consumers choose a nursing home. It’s also important for maintaining accountability from nursing homes for the tax money they receive to provide care. Nursing homes received $58 billion in 2001 from Medicare and Medicaid. That’s just the taxpayers’ share. The nursing home residents’ own money contributed billions of dollars more. The taxpayers should know what they’re getting, and this will help.
“At my request, the General Accounting Office reviewed this initiative and identified some problems with the reliability, validity and accuracy of the data in this project. When I conveyed my concerns about these problems to administration officials, they immediately agreed to correct the GAO’s identified shortcomings. They conveyed their commitment to me in writing. I appreciate their responsiveness, and I look forward to continuing to monitor this project as it goes forward."
