The result could be a higher level of care being delivered. Perhaps the most significant obstacle to nursing home reform is reimbursement by the government. Costs have risen, while reimbursement has continued to lag behind. There also are no requirements on how much a home must spend on patient care. As a result, an unscrupulous owner can make huge profits by not spending money on resident care.
Profits can be so large that fines for poor care are viewed as a cost of doing business.
The government needs to mandate minimum spending for adequate care and incentives should be awarded for good care. When businesses can make more from providing good rather than bad care, practices will change. Also, we should have even large penalties for poor care practices and money for penalties cannot be taken out of the patient care budget. Nursing homes can be reformed when government is more interested in care of the elderly than headlines. Reform is achievable, but it will cost more - quality is never cheap.