Report: Medicare paid $5.1B to nursing homes that provided substandard care

The Associated Press/Washington Post: Fed Watchdog Report Says Medicare Paid $5.1B To Nursing Homes Offering Poor Care
Medicare paid billions in taxpayer dollars to nursing homes nationwide that were not meeting basic requirements to look after their residents, government investigators have found. The report, released Thursday by the Department of Health and Human Services' inspector general, said Medicare paid about $5.1 billion for patients to stay in skilled nursing facilities that failed to meet federal quality of care rules in 2009, in some cases resulting in dangerous and neglectful conditions (2/28).