The Department of Health and Human Services cited 90 percent of nursing homes last year

More than ninety percent of nursing homes were cited for health and safety standard violations in 2007.  Disproportionate numbers of for-profit homes were cited.  About 17 percent of the homes had deficiencies that had caused "actual harm or immediate jeopardy" to residents. 

Prominent among the problems were bed sores, medication mistakes, poor nutrition, and abuse or neglect of residents.  The Department fielded 38,000 complaints and substantiated almost forty percent of them. Twenty percent of the complaints involved abuse or neglect. Two-thirds of homes are owned by for-profit agencies, and 94 percent of those were cited for deficiencies, compared with 88 percent of nonprofit homes and 91 percent of government homes.  For-profits usually have a lower staff-to-patient ratio, which was previously found to coordinate with a higher level of deficiencies in care.  The country has more than 15,000 homes, housing 1.5 million residents.