A new report has advocates for the nursing home industry in Kentucky saying “I told you so.”The report by Aon Global Risk Consulting ranks Kentucky as the worst state for expenses per bed and for the amount of litigation against nursing homes."Well the report simply verifies what we’ve been telling our legislators and what we’ve been trying to get out in the state is that, the expense of operating a nursing home in the state of Kentucky is increasing based on the amount of expense due to litigation that we have," says Wanda Meade, Chairwoman of the Kentucky Association of Healthcare Facilities, which has pushed for tort reform.The Kentucky Justice Association is disputing the fairness of the report.“It is a very biased report, they only looked at five states, it’s not a comprehensive report, and therefore I don’t think it holds a lot of credibility," says KJA President Sheila Heistand. She says Kentucky doesn’t have a litigation problem, but instead nursing homes need to provide better care.Meade counters, saying the federal government ranks Kentucky's nursing home staffing levels as one of the highest in the nation, and fewer lawsuits would free up funds for even more care and staffing.
