Nursing Home inspection tool reports deficiencies in care - KXLT - Fox 47 Rochester MN News, Weather and Sports

ROCHESTER, Minn. (FOX 47) -- A database released this month contains inspection reports from hundreds of Minnesota nursing homes.

The nonprofit investigative reporting organization ProPublica built the database, which compares states and lists fines or penalties nursing homes have received in the past three years.

According to Olmsted County Adult Protective Services, these reports are becoming more common as elder-care becomes more popular with the aging population and public awareness increases.

"The best they can do is report," said Lisa Stasik with Olmsted County Community and Adult Protective Services.  "Get it on the radar, alert somebody so that something can at least be done about it."

According to Stasik, Olmsted County has seen an increase in calls concerning family or care giving staff allegedly taking advantage of resident's financial benefits.

According to the ProPublica database, 379 homes in Minnesota have been penalized for deficiencies in care.  In all, the state has more than $230,000 in fines.  The information is compiled from data collected by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.