Watchdog: Neglect and abuse unreported in nursing facilities

WASHINGTON (AP) — A government watchdog says nursing facilities have failed to report thousands of serious cases of potential neglect and abuse of Medicare beneficiaries to authorities even though reporting is required.
Auditors with the Health and Human Services inspector general’s office drilled down on episodes serious enough that the patient was taken straight from a nursing facility to a hospital emergency room.
Investigators scoured Medicare billing records, estimating that in