According to the 2009 annual survey by MetLife, it costs on average $18,000 more per year for a private room compared to a semi-private room in Massachusetts.  Or course, the difference varies significantly from facility to facility.  You can see the complete MetLife report (in PDF form) here.

There is a nice article in Nurse.com that profiles issues face by elderly gay and lesbian nursing home residents including outreach efforts by Boston Senior Home Care. Here is an excerpt of the article:

Massachusetts Groups Reach Out to Gay and Lesbian Elderly Population

Cathryn Domrose

Monday March 10, 2008

Even in Massachusetts, which is considered a beacon of tolerance and diversity for many gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Americans, the older members of this group remain in the shadows, as in the rest of the country.

Many fear going into assisted-living or skilled nursing facilities, or getting home health care, say those who work in agencies serving gay and lesbian elders. They retreat into the closet rather than face scornful remarks of fellow residents or possible discrimination from caregivers.

But a growing number, led by aging gay and lesbian baby boomers, are starting to assert themselves. They are familiar with anti-discrimination laws and are not afraid to make sure those laws are enforced. They are looking for retirement complexes, assisted-living facilities, and skilled nursing facilities that not only tolerate them, but welcome them.

“I think people are gradually coming out more,” says Linda S. George, RN, MA, CAN, executive director of Boston Senior Care, a home health agency that serves about 3,000 people in the city. “And young gay people are very much out. I think things will be equal in 50 years, maybe 40.”

Agencies Join Efforts
In the meantime, some agencies and companies that serve the elderly — including Boston Senior Home Care — are actively working with staff and clients to become more welcoming to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender elders, including offering training for nurses and other healthcare workers. A skilled nursing facility in the Boston area, the Chelsea Jewish Nursing Home, plans to break ground next year for a unit specifically for elderly gay and lesbian residents.

About 2.4 million Americans older than 55 are gay, lesbian, or bisexual, according to researchers at the University of California in Los Angeles. But many hide behind a wall of fear and isolation, says Lisa Krinsky, director of the LGBT Aging Project in Massachusetts. The project’s services include cultural competency training sessions for agencies and facilities that work with aging adults.

Gay and lesbian elders are more likely to live alone, without children or other family members to care for them. They may limit visits from friends for fear their neighbors may guess they are not heterosexual. “I know how older people have a secret life,” says Michael Ridolfi, RN, BSN, MEd, director of health services at BSHC. “They weren’t raised to be out in the open the way people are today.”

Friendly Visits
Studies of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender elders show their greatest fear in going into retirement communities, assisted-living, or skilled nursing facilities is for their safety. The next greatest fear is they won’t be cared for properly. If gay and lesbian elders know a facility will be friendly and welcoming to them, many of them are more likely to self-identify rather than return to the closet, say those who work with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender elders.

Krinsky says a lot of nurses want to know why they should care whether someone is gay or lesbian, if all they are doing is managing a patient’s health.

“The fact is that folks may simply feel better about their treatment if they’re not holding a secret and if they know that their provider knows and respects them.”

If gay and lesbian elders know a facility will be friendly and welcoming to them, they are more likely to self-identify rather than to return to the closet, say those who work with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender elders. They are more likely to have friends visit and less likely to become isolated, lonely, or depressed.

On home-care visits, Ridolfi looks for certain clues — someone living alone with no children or photos featuring a specific person. They may never openly tell him they are gay, he says, but they often relax and start talking. “They are always glad to have somebody to talk to,” Ridolfi says. “And they always look forward to my visits.

MetLife’s 2006 survey of nursing home costs estimates the average cost of a private room in a Boston-area nursing home to be $102K per year (and $93K for a semi-private room). The survey also provided estimated costs for Worcester-area nursing homes which put the cost at $100K for a private room. The national average cost was $75K for a private room and $67K for a semi-private room. A PDF copy of the 20 page report can be found here.

Tom Reilly announced endictments against former owners of five nursing homes on charges which included patient neglect, Medicaid Fraud, theft of nursing home patients’ personal funds, conspiracy to steal those funds, and with embezzlement of employee wage deductions. All five of the nursing homes involved were either sold off or shut down in 2003 and 2004.

More details in the AG press release:
October 13, 2006

BOSTON – Indictments were returned in Dedham Superior Court against the former operators of five Massachusetts nursing home facilities, Attorney General Tom Reilly announced today.

Brothers Joel K. Logan, of Norwell, and Todd Logan of Braintree, are charged with patient neglect, Medicaid Fraud, theft of nursing home patients’ personal funds, conspiracy to steal those funds, and with embezzlement of employee wage deductions intended for funding 401(k) retirement contributions, and life and disability insurance premiums. Their nephew, Gregory J. Logan, of Kingston, who served as the Administrator for one of the nursing homes, has also been charged with conspiracy and with embezzlement of residents’ funds.

These charges follow a three-year investigation conducted by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the Fair Labor and Business Practices Division, both part of the Attorney General’s Business and Labor Protection Bureau, along with assistance from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration.

A Norfolk County Grand Jury returned a total of 26 indictments against Joel, Todd, and Gregory Logan, and the former nursing home facilities. The facilities involved include: Elihu White Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, formerly of Braintree, Pond Meadow Healthcare Facility, Inc., formerly of Weymouth, Atrium Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, formerly of Middleborough, Logan Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, formerly of Braintree, and Crestview Healthcare Facility, Inc., formerly of Quincy.

Four of the nursing homes were forced into receivership during June 2003, and the fifth nursing home, Crestview, went into receivership a year later, during July 2004, based on allegations of financial mismanagement. Each of the nursing homes was either sold-off to other nursing home operators or were closed by the court-appointed receiver.

The charges stem from allegations that, during January 2001 through June 2003, the Logans, and their corporations, diverted funds received under the state’s Medicaid program for their own personal use while failing to provide basic goods and services which, as Medicaid providers, they were required to provide to the facilities’ residents.

The investigation determined that the facilities frequently experienced shortages of food, medicine, linens, and personal hygiene items, interruption of pest control services, and accumulation of medical waste, due to nonpayment of vendors, while at the same time the defendants used the nursing home facilities’ assets to fund various personal expenditures, including horse racing activities and luxury boat payments.

The Medicaid Fraud Unit’s investigation additionally determined that on multiple occasions during May 10, 2002 through January 10, 2003, Joel, Todd and Gregory Logan removed a total of $82,000 from the Patients Needs Accounts (”PNA”) for three of the homes, Pond Meadow, Elihu White, and Logan Nursing & Rehabilitation, for purposes unrelated to the residents’ own use. PNA accounts are statutorily regulated accounts held in trust for the sole personal use and benefit of nursing home residents. Massachusetts Medicaid regulations specify that a nursing home facility may not use PNA funds for any purposes other than the personal use of the nursing home residents, under any circumstances.

The indictments also allege that during July 2002, and during November 2002 through June 2003, Joel and Todd Logan failed to remit approximately $55,000 in deductions withheld from employee wages for the purpose of funding the employer-sponsored 401(k) Plan, a type of investment plan where eligible employees may establish individual retirement accounts. In total, approximately 25 plan participants were affected, excluding approximately 20 Logan family members and corporate insiders. Additionally, during August 30, 2002 through June 6, 2003, the indictments charge that Joel and Todd Logan failed to remit $22,583.64 in employee wage withholding intended to fund short-term disability policies through Colonial Life Insurance, and individual life insurance policies with Boston Mutual.

All defendants are innocent until proven guilty. The nursing homes were either sold to other nursing home operators or were closed by the court-appointed receiver.

Today’s action comes on the heels of $560,000 in judgments obtained by the Attorney General’s Office in June against four of the nursing home owners for contempt penalties, receivership costs, and attorneys’ fees incurred in investigating and prosecuting a contempt case.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Ann Ackil, with the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, and by Assistant Attorney General Karla Zarbo, with the Fair Labor and Business Practices Division, with assistance of Medicaid Fraud Financial Investigators Eileen Casey, Timothy Johnson, Fair Labor Inspector Michael Cantwell, Fair Labor Paralegal Bruce Bergman, and present and former investigators with the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration. The Massachusetts State Police and Massachusetts Insurance Fraud Bureau also provided investigative support.

From a NBC news Portland affiliate WCSH6 news report:

Residents are finally returning to a Lawrence, Massachusetts nursing home that was hastily evacuated during the record flooding last May. The rain-swollen Spicket River breached a temporary sand barrier, sending water rushing into the St. Mary Immaculate nursing home. National Guard soldiers helped build a temporary road so that frail residents, many confined to wheelchairs, could be safely evacuated. Many of the approximately 240 residents were moved to other nursing homes, some as far away as Worcester. It took about 17 weeks to complete repairs so that residents could begin moving back into the state’s third-largest nursing home this week. Officials say about 20 residents died in the intervening months. About 50 others settled elsewhere and are not returning.