AARP Florida officials took the unusual step of endorsing a risk management program for nursing homes offered by a company that makes pressure ulcer prevention mattresses as one way to curb the industry's liability insurance problems.
       Tempur-Medical, based in Lexington, Kentucky, requires nursing homes to switch all of their bed mattresses to ones developed by the company, trains the staff in pressure ulcer management and wound prevention, and keeps the home stocked with an unlimited supply of skin creams and wound care materials.
       In exchange, Tempur-Medical shares the risk of a potential lawsuit by agreeing to cover the first $250,000 of any settlement or judgment from a lawsuit stemming from a pressure ulcer.
       Because more than half of the lawsuits against nursing homes involve pressure ulcers, AARP and the company believe this program, and others modeled after it, will reduce the volume of lawsuits related to pressure ulcers.
       "This is the first step in making a major difference in nursing home care in this state," said Bentley Lipscomb, director of the Florida chapter of AARP, formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons.
       Two insurance companies said they are willing to provide premium discounts to nursing homes that sign on with the program.
       Lipscomb said AARP has no financial interest in the program but sees this as an alternative to the efforts by the for-profit nursing home chains that want legislators to pass a bill this year to cap their payments in lawsuit damages to reduce their insurance costs.
       "In pilot programs at Marriott Senior Living centers and five Florida nursing homes owned by Delta Health Group, Tempur-Medical's program reduced the incidents of bedsores from 15 percent to one percent of the residents," said Joel Guerin, Tempur-Medical president.
       The company developed its mattresses using foam developed by NASA that absorbs pressure and softens in response to the warmth of a person's body. It combined the mattress with a risk management program that allows nursing homes to spread the risk of liability and improve their healthcare practices.
       Scott Bell, president of Delta Health Group, said he agreed to do a 90-day trial at Delta's nursing home in Tampa but was skeptical of the company's promise to have a 75-percent reduction in the incidence of wounds related to pressure ulcers.
       "We said, yeah, right. It's one of the biggest battles we fight," he said, "but the number of pressure sores went from 18 percent to one percent." The staff was happier because they had time to take care of other resident needs. Delta's experience has been so successful, it is now welcoming new residents with difficult wounds.
       "I don't want anyone to think this is a cure-all for this industry," Bell said. "It is improving the quality of life that they [patients] have."