By Susan Jaffe | March 7, 2014 | Kaiser Health News in collaboration with 

Federal efforts to strengthen inspections of the nation’s nursing homes are gaining momentum after a government probe uncovered instances of substandard care.

The March 3 report by the HHS Inspector General found that an estimated one-third of residents suffered harm because of substandard care and that the chances of nursing home inspectors discovering these “adverse events” are “slim to none,” said Ruth Ann Dorrill, a deputy regional director for the inspector general and the manager of the investigation.

Nearly 60 percent of these incidents were preventable — including injuries due to falls or medication errors — and more than half of residents were hospitalized as a result, costing Medicare an estimated $2.8 billion in 2011, according to investigators. In 6 percent of the cases, poor care contributed to residents’ deaths….

After reviewing a September draft of the IG report, Medicare officials became interested in using the IG’s investigative techniques, methods not normally used in measuring nursing home quality, Dorrill said. [More from KHN] [More from Washington Post]