Summary: Board and care homes for the elderly are nonmedical, community-based facilities that provide room, meals, and some supervision of residents, including assistance with medications. In reviewing board and care homes in three states--California, Missouri, and Washington--GAO found that staff receive little medication training and often violate medication-handling regulations; state inspection procedures may not spot such violations; and staff frequently did not keep required resident records. While resident records supported the appropriateness of medications for about half of the 35 residents GAO reviewed, they were insufficient for GAO to judge the others. GAO concludes that residents in these homes are at risk of medication errors and that the Department of Health and Human Services should help states address these medication handling issues and develop training programs. GAO summarized this report in testimony before Congress; see: Board and Care Homes: Medication Mishandling Places Elderly at Risk, by Joseph F. Delfico, Director of Income Security Issues, before the Subcommittee on Health and Long-Term Care, House Select Committee on Aging. GAO/T-HRD-92-16, Mar. 13, 1992 (nine pages).
