By Healthcare Facilities Today

A federal mandate to improve fire safety at nursing homes has led to beefed-up protection for some of Wisconsin's most vulnerable residents, with most of the affected nursing homes in the state making the necessary, and expensive, renovations within the past five years to comply, according to an article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Regulations set in 2008 by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services gave nursing homes an Aug. 13, 2013, deadline to comply with stronger rules regarding fire sprinklers. Failure to meet the deadline carried the risk of losing Medicare and Medicaid funds.

A survey by the newspaper found that all but a handful of facilities have complied and shored up their systems, the article said.

State records show 19 nursing homes in Wisconsin hadn't met the stricter sprinkler rules as of a recent inspection. Most said they'd completed renovations and were awaiting their next inspection.

Robyn Grant, a spokeswoman for the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care, an advocacy group, said the regulations gained momentum after two catastrophic nursing homes fires in Connecticut and Tennessee killed 31 people a decade ago, according to the article.

"The only thing that protects people from dying in a fire is sprinklers. That's the number one thing needed," she said.

Read the article.