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The 2004 Nursing Home Watch List, published this month by Consumer Reports, names seven California nursing homes currently operated by the Ensign Group, whose records "raise questions about the quality of care delivered to residents." The Ensign Group is California's fifth-largest and fastest-growing nursing home chain.

The list, published annually by the independent non-profit organization, uses state records and public complaints to compile a list of homes in states across the U.S. at which consumers should be particularly vigilant.

To compile the Consumer Reports list, researchers looked at five criteria: high-severity deficiencies; substandard quality of care deficiencies; high numbers of repeat deficiencies; high numbers of total deficiencies; and citations for failing to provide access to the survey results.

In a report on the Ensign Group released in August, California-based Nursing Home Watch also exposed resident care problems at several of the company's facilities. The report, "Condition Critical: How Care for Seniors Suffers in California's Ensign Group Nursing Homes," outlined alarming patient care concerns including gangrenous bed sores, repeated falls, unexpected weight loss, medication errors and other problems that threaten seniors at these nursing homes.

Facilities currently operated by Ensign named in Consumer Reports' 2004 Nursing Home Watch List include:

California

Arroyo Vista Nursing Center*, San Diego
Brookside Healthcare Center, Redlands
Cloverdale Healthcare Center, Cloverdale
Park View Gardens at Montgomery, Santa Rosa
Sonoma Healthcare Center, Sonoma
Victoria Care Center, Ventura
Vista Knoll Specialized Care, Vista
Texas
Northern Oaks Living & Rehab, Abilene, TX
Arizona
Sabino Canyon Nursing & Rehab, Tucson, AZ

Hospitals rely on skilled nursing facilities to provide rehabilitation for patients, and regularly refer patients to nursing homes. For information on local hospitals that refer patients to Ensign homes on this watch list, see www.EnsignWatch.com.

Consumer Reports' Nursing Home Watch List can be found on their Web site: www.consumerreports.org.

Nursing Home Watch is a coalition of senior advocates, nursing home staff, nursing home residents and family members, the Service Employees International Union and community supporters who have united to improve the safety and quality of care in California's nursing homes.

Referred from: (http://www.consumeraffairs.com)