A healthcare system that proposes giving gift cards to residents and other customers it disappoints with poor service is on firm legal ground, federal regulators say.

Nursing home operators wasted little time Wednesday issuing rebuttals to the federal government's announcement that it would create and publish individual facility rankings on its Web site by the end of the year.

The federal government won 66 of 71 appeals cases brought by nursing home providers last year according to a recent report from the Center for Medicare Advocacy. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services won all 18 cases decided on the merits at the Appellate Division; it won 48 of 53 cases at the Civil Remedies Division.

The long-term care industry is still grappling with a House hearing criticizing nursing home quality and a report on problematic nursing home inspections that was released in conjunction with last Thursday's hearing.

A total of 20% of nursing homes deliver care that is directly harmful to residents, a government official told federal lawmakers Thursday.

State inspectors often fail to cite serious deficiencies, including malnutrition, bedsores and abuse, in their annual inspections of facilities, a Government Accountability Office report found.

Average national liability costs to the long-term care sector have stabilized for the first time in nine years, according to a report released Monday by the Aon Corp.

The Service Employees International Union has called into question the independence of HCR ManorCare's recently formed panel of quality advisers.

HCR ManorCare disclosed this week the formation of the HCR ManorCare Independent Advisory Committee on Quality, a three-person panel convened to provide recommendations and advice to the ManorCare Board of Directors.

I understand that many facilities are being cited during state surveys for not following standards of clinical practice. That citation is frequently cross-referenced to the assessment process. What can we do to meet this challenge?