The best nursing homes in Erie County, New York can be found on a website launched today.
Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz issued an Executive Order creating a county website to publicize the ranking of nursing homes in Erie County, New York.
The website provides a searchable list of all nursing homes in Erie County. a list of Medicare- and Medicaid- certified nursing homes in Erie County, along with their overall rating based on health inspection, staffing, and quality measure ratings (1 star being the lowest, 5 being the highest/best).
The “Safer Senior Homes” website has a list of Medicare and Medicaid- certified nursing homes in Erie County, along with their overall rating based on health inspection, staffing, and quality measure ratings (1 star being the lowest, 5 being the highest/best).
Once a home is selected, all past infraction information will be shown along with the ranking that the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) assigns to the facility.
Erie County Social Services and Erie County Senior Services will be disseminating this information.
In addition, Erie County Senior Services will create a “Know your Rights” guide for residents considering placing a loved one in the best nursing home. It will include the listing of nursing homes in Erie County with their rankings.
Poloncarz also unveiled a package of actions designed to better protect seniors in nursing homes following a fatal attack on such a resident last year.
At the center of the package is “Ruthie’s Law”, a new local law that will require nursing homes to notify residents’ guardians within a one-hour time frame when a determination has been made that the residents’ injuries are so severe that they would must be transported to a hospital.
Additionally, the law will require nursing homes to disclose their NYSDOH ranking at the point of application to every potential resident and family pursuing placement in their facility. It will also provide injury and fatality data to the Erie County Commissioner of Senior Services when an incident occurs.
This data would not contain identification data of the patient but the nature of the injury and the cause of death as best determined.
In August 2016 82-year old Ruth Murray, a resident with Alzheimer’s disease at Emerald South Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center in Buffalo, sustained fatal injuries in a fight with another resident after mistakenly walking into that resident’s room.