Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog

The Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the Federal Nursing Home Reform Amendments give residents of county-run nursing homes the right to bring civil rights claims under Section 1983 to challenge the quality of their treatment. The court says that these provisions make clear that nursing homes must provide a basic level of service and care for residents and Medicaid patients. Under this law, nursing homes “are required to care for residents in a manner promoting quality of life, provide services and activities to maintain the highest practicable physical, mental and psychosocial well-being of residents. The ruling revives a suit by the estate of a woman who died in the nursing home as a result of elderly neglect, malnourishment and bed sores that were so severe they led to a fatal case of sepsis. This nursing home decision will greatly impact nursing home negligence lawsuits. To read more about the appellate decision, please click the link.

The National Citizen Coalition for Nursing Home Reform (NCCNHR) has created many programs to combat elderly abuse. They are currently conducting a survey of family council members to help NCCNHR learn more about councils and strengthening their ability to provide networking and support to family councils across the country. Additionally, the NCCNHR’s top legislative goal has been health care reform. They have also hoping for the passage of the Fairness in Nursing Home Arbitration Act, a bill that would do away with predispute arbitration agreements that consumers are often compelled to sign agreeing not to sue. The NCCNHR are also committed to the passage of the Elder Justice Act. This bill would improve opportunities for the elderly and those with disabilities to receive care in their own homes. NCCNHR has also joined the Joint Commission Long-Term Care Professional and Technical Advisory Committee. To read more about the work of the NCCNHR, please click the link.

A lawmaker wants to require nursing homes to notify residents and their families when a sex offender moves into the facility. Under the current law, no notification is required, and nursing homes are not allowed to turn away applicants for being sex offenders. A new state bill would require licensed nursing home care facilities to notify residents and their families that a sex offender is living there. Notification would also be required if a person was imprisoned for a felony any time during the year long period of their application for admission. Nursing home legislation such as this will help diminish sexual abuse from fellow residents. There has been an increase in sexual abuse by fellow residents in Chicago, Illinois. To read more about the new nursing home legislation, please click the link.

The National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys is urging people to call their Representatives on June 4, 2009 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST to ask their members of Congress to include long-term care in future health care reform. Right now, long-term care options are often unaffordable for families and the needs of many seniors go unmet. NAELA is calling upon Congress to include long-term care supports in health care reform to provide assistance for these services. Please call (800)- 828-0498 and ask to be connected to your U.S. Representative. If you do not know who your Representative is, follow this link.

State officials have cited a nursing home for improper cell phone use by employees. This citation took place after investigators said staff members took cell phone photos of residents. They then attached sexually explicit lyrics and sent them as text messages to other workers. States need to take action to protect residents against elder abuse. Illinois should ensure that nursing home employees should not use cell phones. To read more about elderly abuse, please click the link.

A state is asking their nursing homes to limit employees’ use of cell phones to prevent improper use of the devices in incidents involving residents. This comes after an investigation that revealed that staff members attached sexually explicit lyrics to photos of residents and sent them as text messages to other employees. Documents also revealed that employees recorded patients screaming or asking to use the bathroom and then played a guessing game to see which resident was involved. This included photos of resident’s that were not fully clothed. One employee did not view this incident as elderly abuse, but rather fun. In an incident of nursing home abuse, an employee took a photo of a resident entering the bathroom. The photo showed the resident’s exposed back, legs and incontinence brief, which additionally was wet. This staff member than attached the lyrics of a song entitled “Stanky Leggs” to the photo and sent it to a nursing assistant. The nursing home has fired all those involved in the abuse incident. Illinois should consider enacting a law limiting cell phone use in nursing homes. To read more about the nursing home abuse, please click the link.

Nursing Homes have been cited by state investigators for failing to perform lifesaving measures on residents who had requested that they be resuscitated. Two nursing homes have been cited for ignoring written orders that residents not be resuscitated. These errors show how using purple wristbands to identify residents who had signed a do not resuscitate order may be helpful. The nursing homes were sanctioned for their inability to follow orders. Legislatures in other states have enacted a nursing home law requiring purple wristbands. The hospital association is also considering using a red wristband to indicate allergies and a yellow wristband to indicate that a patient has a risk of falling. These wristbands would greatly help flag specific patients and woudl be useful in Chicago, Illinois. To read more about this nursing home legislation, please click the link.

In a secret Issue Brief being circulated in Washington, the American Health Care Association (AHCA) is asking Congress to turn back the clock on nursing home residents. The AHCA wants to repeal the current statutory requirement for annual surveys and nursing facilities and go back to a 1982 proposal for less-than-annual surveys. This will undermine years of work toward greater facility accountability. The new legislation asks that nursing facilities in the “Top Tier” have on-site surveys only every three years. The AHCA does not define “Top Tier” facilities, does not describe how they would be selected, and does not identify how many facilities would avoid annual surveys under its proposal. The nursing home legislation proposal also excludes, long-standing statutory language that authorizes the imposition of various intermediate sanctions against facilities that fail to provide residents with the care and services they need. To read more about the nursing home legislation, please click the link.

Senators Orrin Hatch and Blanche Lincoln have reintroduced a bill designed to help curb elder abuse. Hatch noted that more than 500,000 Americans over 60 are victims of domestic abuse. He wishes that this bill would protect the elderly from those who would prey upon them physically, financially and psychologically. The bill would order the federal government to collect data on elder abuse; penalize failure to report abuse and other crimes in long-term care facilities; provide Adult Protective Services grants with $100 million annually for four years; and create a council to coordinate federal, state and local response to elder abuse. The senator stated that the government spends $6.7 billion a year on child abuse and $520 million a year on domestic abuse, but only $153 million on elder abuse. Given that 76 million baby boomers will reach retirement age over the next three decades, that amount is quite small. To read more about the nursing home legislation, please click the link.

The United States Congress is considering nursing home legislation that would eliminate taxpayer-funded bonuses to nursing homes. This would be an amendment to a nursing home budget bill. The amendment was accepted to unanimous consent of the Senate, but is still waiting to be approved. Nursing homes throughout the country are earning hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded bonuses despite violations of basic health and safety standards. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which approves and helps fund each of the bonus programs, does not track the payments. Okalahoma senator Tom Coburn believes that taxpayers shouldn’t be billed for bonuses paid to inferior care facilities. "We paid out in excess of $300 million in bonuses to nursing homes that had significant problems in terms of giving the care and meeting Medicare standards," he said. "Why? Why wouldn't we fix that?" To read more about the national nursing home legislation, please click the link.

An agency director takes issue with a recent report that claimed that the county stopped providing services to protect elder abuse. The report stated that the county was in violation of the Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protective Act, which mandates local governments to provide elder abuse protection to seniors.

To read more about the elder abuse cases.

Senators Chuck Grassley and Herb Kohl reintroduced the Nursing Home Transparency and Improvement Act, a bill that would give consumers more information about individual nursing homes and their track record of care, giving the government better tools for enforcing high quality standards. Grassley was quoted as saying that "Improving the quality of care in nursing homes is a constant challenge. More transparency, better enforcement and improved staff training are needed, and this legislation works to make changes in those areas and improve the quality of life of nursing home residents and to empower the family members and loved ones of those residents." Among other things the bill improves staff training to include dementia management and abuse prevention training as part of pre-employment training. It also strengthens accountability requirements for individual facilities and nursing homes chains by requiring them to develop compliance and ethics plans to guard against civil, criminal and administrative violations. To read more about the new nursing home legislation, please click the link.

Two Senators last week introduced a bill to establish a nationwide system of background checks to prevent people with criminal histories from working in nursing homes. Thre bill is called the Patient Safety and Abuse Prevention Act, which expands on a three-year pilot program helped to prevent applicants with a criminal record from working in long-term care. Often times, nursing home abuse occurs when nursing homes fail to properly screen their employees who work with some of the most vulnerable people.

To read the full article on the nursing home bill.

A wrongful death lawsuit was recently filed against a nursing home alleging nursing home neglect. The nursing home abuse lawsuit alleges that the care center violated the Nursing Home Act in that the resident suffered malnutrition, dehydration, decubitis ulcers, and sepsis prior to her death.

To read more about the wrongful death lawsuit.

New legislation is making it difficult for elderly neglected or abused in nursing homes to gather evidence from inspections. Shortly before President Bush left office, he signed a bill allowing state inspectors to be considered federal employees that could be restricted from giving testimony in court. This means that there will be less evidence to back up nursing home violations. Elderly abuse will be more difficult to prove, which will lead to poor treatment of seniors in nursing homes. The dramatic effect of inspectors not testifying is revealed by the fact that they are the ones who track the number and frequency of abuse. However, this new legislation was put into place to make Medicare payments to providers and to insure that less nursing home lawsuits go to litigation. “The Bush administration’s rule makes it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to uncover state inspectors’ findings and use them as evidence,” said attorney Steven Levin of Levin & Perconti. “This regulation is another example of the Bush administration putting the interests of corporations that run nursing homes ahead of the rights of nursing home residents to be free of abuse and neglect. As a result, poor quality care in nursing homes will not be discovered and punished.” To read more about Bush’s new rule, please click the link.

On March 4, The Senate Special Committee on Aging will meet to discuss how improvements in long-term care can be included as part of national health care reform. The committee will meet to discuss possible changes and improvements in Medicare, Medicaid and organizing long-term care services. Long-term care reform can help to improve the quality of care for nursing home residents across the country.

The public is encouraged to call their Members of Congress prior to this committee meeting to let them know that they support long-term care reform. Those wishing to participate can call (800) 958-5374 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern Time on March 3, 2009. To learn more about supporting long-term care reform, follow the link.

New nursing home legislation passed during the last months of the Bush administration is angering many affected by elderly abuse. The rule designates inspectors and Medicare and Medicaid contractors as federal employees, a group usually shielded from providing evidence for either side in private litigation. The restrictions affect about 16,000 nursing facilities and 3 million residents in the United States. Its effect is to force nursing home negligence litigants to go to greater lengths, including seeking court orders to get inspection reports or depositions. The new nursing home rule generally prohibits state health departments and contractors from participating in private lawsuits involving facilities that are in the federal assistance program without approval by the head of the Department of Health and Human Services. Those who created the rule say that it is necessary to accommodate the hiring of new contractors to make Medicare payments to providers, perform audit and fraud reviews, and do survey, certification and enforcement work for the program. This new rule has already affected the nation’s courtrooms as requests for information about elderly abuse, once fairly routine is now stalled between state and federal officials. This leglislation will affect nursing homes in Chicago, Illinois. To read more about the nursing home legislation, please click the link.

The Bush administration passed legislation that affects the entire nursing home industry occurred with no public notice attention without a word from the government. The rule designates state inspectors and Medicare and Medicaid contractors as federal employees. This is a group usually shielded form providing evidence for either side in private litigation. The restrictions affect about 16,000 nursing facilities nationwide which house 3 million residents. The effect is to force elderly abuse litigants to go to greater lengths, including seeking court orders, to get inspection reports or depositions for cases they are pursuing or defending. Many critics are blaming this on the nursing home industry, which will greatly benefit from the new legislation. It will make it harder for abused nursing home residents to gather information on their respective nursing homes. To read more about this new nursing home legislation, click the link.

The Bush administration shut off a source of information last fall about elderly abuse and neglect that people suing nursing homes consider crucial to their cases. The change that affects the nursing home industry occurred with no public notice or attention, perhaps because of the array of last-minute rules that President Bush’s appointees rushed out before leaving. The rule designated state inspectors and Medicare and Medicaid contractors as federal employees. Federal employees are usually shielded from providing evidence for either side in private litigation. The practical effect is to force litigants to go to great lengths when suing nursing homes, including seeking court orders, to get inspection reports or depositions for cases they are pursuing or defending. The new rule generally prohibits state health departments and contractors that do auditing and other services for the government from participating in private lawsuits involving facilities that are in the federal assistance program without the approval by the head of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department. Lawyers are currently approaching the Obama administration to get rid of the rule that hinders so many elderly abuse lawsuits. To read more about this legislation, click here.

One state has a legislative proposal that would require background checks on home health care workers. The idea would require home health agencies to conduct criminal background reviews on all aids they employ and assign to clients’ homes. The legislation would also prohibit agencies from hiring anyone convicted of a felony within the past 10 years. Since many elderly people have been defrauded by home health aides mandatory rules should be in place and apply to everyone. The new proposal would cover any licensed home health care agencies, homemakers companion service agencies and homemaker-home health aide agencies. Legislatures in Illinois should also consider this type of useful legislation that would combat against elderly abuse. To read more about nursing home legislation, click here.

Medicare has put 10 “reasonably preventable” conditions on its initial list of reasons why it will stop paying hospitals for the added cost of treating patients who are injured in their care. Medicare has stated it will not pay when patients receive incompatible blood transfusions, develop infections after certain surgeries or undergo a second operation to retrieve a sponge left behind from the first. Serious bed sores, injuries from falls and urinary tract infections caused by catheters are also on the list. The policy will prevent hospitals from billing patients directly for costs generated by medical errors. Other insurance agencies, both private and public are set to adopt similar criteria. The plan will now grant bonuses to doctors and hospitals that report quality measures. This plan will have a drastic effect on the elderly who rely on Medicare for their sole insurance and any problems that they may incur at the hands of nursing home negligence. To read the full story, click here.

California’s Governor has signed a package of bills that will ensure care facilities for the elderly are prepared during disasters and power outages, provide law enforcement with more tools to ensure criminals who victimize the elderly are prosecuted and further protect against different forms of financial abuse. The bill ensures elderly residents living in residential care facilities are not left vulnerable during and immediately following a natural disaster or other emergency. The bill requires residential care facilities for the elderly have a comprehensive emergency plan by March 1, 2009 that ensures the facility can remain self-reliant for at least 72 hours. The facility must also make the plan available to residents and local emergency responders. Additionally the bill requires long-term care facilities to report cases of alleged or suspected physical abuse, including sexual abuse, and financial abuse to the local district attorney’s office. To read the full story, click here.

In nursing homes across the countries, employees were hired who had criminal backgrounds for numerous felons. By hiring these employees, the nursing home had placed their patients into a dangerous situation. This reason alone is why the U.S. Senate Finance Committee’s Patient Safety and Abuse Prevention Act is so important. The National Council on Aging has stated that “This legislation would create a framework and provide funding for a coordinated nationwide system of background checks for long-term care employees.” This system will allow public and private employers to prevent vile abuses among those who are disabled or frail elderly in need of long-term care. According to a government document, in 2004 the staffs of state adult protective services agencies received more than 500,000 reports of elder and vulnerable adult abuse. There were 4,000 complaints of physical abuse, more than 800 complaints of sexual abuse, and nearly 1,000 complaints of financial abuse in one year alone. This reason alone points to the absolute necessity of strong, enforceable legislation. To read the full story, click here.

The Senate Finance Committee approved two bills that seek to prevent neglect and abuse of elderly patients. One bill would authorize $777 million to establish state and local training and assistance programs for long-term care employees. The legislation would establish a database used to identify and track elder abuse cases. Bill co-sponsor Rahm Emanuel said, “Ever year, millions of American seniors are victims of abuse and neglect. This bill will bring focus to the problem of elder abuse and elder abuse and elevate it to the same level as other family violence issues.” The second bill would seek to establish a nationwide system of background checks to screen potential long-term care employees for a history of abuse or a violent criminal record. The law should provide as much as $160 million in grants over three years to states that seek to participate in the program. To read the full story, click here.

Recently the Senate Finance Committee passed the Patient Safety and Abuse Prevention Act which establishes a nationwide system of background checks to stop criminals from working in nursing homes and other long-term care settings. The bill is now going before the full Senate. Senator Clinton, a sponsor of the bill, stated that the legislation takes important steps to safeguard citizens and give peace of mind to their families. The legislation puts in place a system of background checks and encourages federal and state coordination. It will utilize the FBI’s national database and state police records in order to effectively screen potential care-givers for criminal history. The legislation comes at an important time when many nursing home employees have been both physically and sexually assaulting residents. To read the full story, click here.

A nursing home reform advocate points out that there are many clear cases of nursing home abuse that continue to be seen and that there need to be changes in the law and changes in the way in which nursing home patients are protected from abuse. He also mentions that many of these abuses fail to get reported to the authorities and that even the agency responsible for monitoring for abuse and neglect has claimed that this abuse is not happening in places where it is clear that it is. He suggests several reforms that could be made in the law to help protect against this abuse and neglect such as background checks being performed on all of the employees and requiring nursing homes to obtain liability insurance. The husband of a victim of nursing home abuse is quoted saying that patients in nursing homes have no more rights than inmates in prisons. The issue of nursing home abuse and neglect is also prevalent in Chicago, Illinois. For the full story click here.

A former candidate for attorney general produced this advertisement that discusses nursing home abuse and neglect. This shows that elder abuse issues are gaining in their importance to both voters and politicians as instances of elder abuse and nursing home neglect are on the rise nationwide.

More and more states are turning to legislation that would require sex offenders to notify nursing homes and their residents. The need for such legislation comes as nursing homes are accepting an increasing number of mentally handicapped patients, some of who are sex offenders. Specifically, the problem relates more to younger, mentally handicapped patients at nursing homes, not the elderly. However, as the level of care at nursing homes continues to decline, incidents of violent sexual behavior by residents continue to increase.

For more information, click here:

Congress is now considering HB 6064, called the National Silver Alert Act. The Act would establish a national "Silver Alert" communications network that would assist in search efforts for missing seniors on a national and local level. The Act would also assign a Silver Alert Coordinator in the Department of Justice to coordinate the Silver Alert network with the states and would provide for grant funding to individual states to support these efforts. Hopefully, this Act can improve state resources for finding missing seniors. This problem affects nursing homes frequently; elopement is a growing problem in nursing home abuse and neglect cases where residents' movements are not supervised or controlled. Eloping and wandering nursing home residents often are found injured when they leave the nursing home and cannot provide for themselves.

Read the full text of the Act here.

The Fairness in Nursing Home Arbitration Act, also known as the Nursing Home Arbitration Bill has been passed by the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial Law and Administrative Law. The nursing home legislation, if passed by the Senate will prevent nursing homes in Illinois and all across the nation from requiring the elderly residents in nursing home to sign an arbitration agreement to gain admission. Amendments did not pass that attempted to exclude nursing home employees and nursing home physicians from the bill. To read more about this piece of nursing home legislation that may bring a change to Illinois nursing home residents click here.

A recently passed Medicare Bill in the Senate may help provide relief to those who are insured by Medicare. Elderly Health Insurance is a very important topic in today’s world as the nation is facing an increasingly higher age population of seniors. Without the bill payments to physicians would have been cut placing higher costs on elderly patients to pay for their hospital bills, medical bills and even nursing home facilities. Proper elderly treatment and adequate elderly care can only come if the population is financially secure and can afford proper nursing home care and health care. Without insurance coverage or other sources of financial aid the elderly faces a terrifying decision to enter into a neglectful nursing home environment or an abusive nursing home environment. To read more about this bipartisan bill click here.

A new nursing home movement has some advocates pushing for smaller and more communal nursing homes which are being called Green Nursing Homes. Currently nursing homes nationwide are stricken with reports of nursing home abuse and nursing home neglect but advocates for a change hope these problems can be alleviated with the creation of nursing home care in a smaller and closer knit facility. To read more on the potential nursing home reform that can come from this click here.

When 84-year-old John DeBias’ health began declining a few years ago, he was forced to abandon his condo in Florida and return to Carpentersville, Illinois, to live with his daughter. However, five months ago, John broke his leg and then suffered a heart attack during surgery and, as he continued to get worse, living with his daughter, Karen, a single working mother, became impossible since she simply did not have the time to devote to her ailing father and in-house health care was not enough. It was then that John was forced to move into a nursing home. Since January, John has lived in multiple Illinois nursing homes. He is finally in one that works for the family, but getting there was difficult. Most of the nursing homes put a good show on for the residents’ families, but care ends up being inadequate and seniors are left to fend for themselves more than they are able. A stint in one nursing home left John with weight loss of 13 pounds in two weeks, urinary tract and yeast infections, a shoulder injury from being pushed and pulled around, dehydration and malnutrition, and pressure sores.

Unfortunately, this is not a unique story for nursing home residents. In 2003, nation-wide state Long Term Care Ombudsmen programs collectively investigated 20,673 complaints against nursing homes and board and care residents. The Nursing Home Transparency and Improvement Act of 2008 is aimed at improving consumer knowledge about the quality of nursing homes. Some ways the Act is achieving that goal is by: (1) posting nursing home ownership details, a standard complaint form, and links to inspection reports on www.medicare.gov; (2) increasing the maximum fines from $10,000 to $100,000 for any nursing home deficiency that results in a death; and (3) independently auditing nursing home chains, allowing closer watching of chains that have failed to comply in the past. In addition, separate from the legislation, there will be a website by the end of the year that evaluates nursing homes on a five-star rating system.

Read more here.

Many nursing homes require residents or their families to sign arbitration clauses, whereby they sign away their right to bring suit in court for any abuse or neglect by the nursing home. A Senate committee is currently investigating the issue and heard from the family of William Kurth on Wednesday. Kurth fractured his hip and leg and received numerous pressure ulcers while living out his final months in a nursing home. His family attempted to sue for negligence, but the case was dismissed on account of his wife having signed an arbitration clause when her husband was admitted. Arbitration clauses benefit nursing homes because of their speed, cost, and, most notably, their confidentiality. The problem, however, is that most families are not thinking about suing a home when they admit their family member or loved one into the nursing home. Kurth’s wife, for example, was distressed about her husband’s recent stroke and overall condition and was, herself, taking medication when she agreed to arbitration. The Kurth family attorney called that day one of the most stressful in her life, and states that she would not have signed those papers if she knew what she was giving up: the right to a trial by jury. Kurth’s children allege that their father got infections because excrement and urine were left on his bed sores without being cleaned for multiple days in a row. While there is mounting support for banning arbitration clauses for nursing homes, the issue is still hotly contested and far from decided.

Read more here.

Many, if not most, nursing homes currently require potential residences to sign arbitration clauses as a prerequisite to moving into the home. This essentially means that residences are prevented from bringing a conventional nursing home abuse and neglect lawsuit, and instead must submit any complaints to a private arbitrator, who is both chosen and paid for by the nursing home itself in non-public proceedings where awards end up being much smaller than equivalent jury verdicts. Furthermore, the clauses, hidden within the mounds of paperwork required by potential residents can easily be missed by the elderly applicants, especially those ailing from Dementia or other diseases. A new bill seeks to ban mandatory nursing home arbitration clauses because of the potential unethical effects when applied to seniors. The bill would benefit anyone potentially bringing suits for nursing home abuse and neglect.

Read more here.

The GAO has released a study on the results of federal monitoring surveys of state inspections in nursing homes. The federal government often contracts with state employees to perform annual compliance surveys which are a prerequisite to Medicare and Medicaid funding. The GAO’s report unfortunately contains some very troubling reports of nursing home abuse and neglect.

The study found that a substantial proportion of state inspectors and surveys miss deficiencies in nursing homes regularly, including malnutrition, severe bedsores, overuse of prescription medications and nursing home abuse and neglect. Some of these deficiencies are at the most dangerous levels and could cause immediate harm to nursing home residents. However, less serious noncompliance was more frequent: approximately 70% of state surveys missed at least one instance of low-level noncompliance.

Click to view the full text of the study or the abstract.

Continue reading "GAO Report Finds Faults with Current Nursing Home Compliance System, Recommends Changes" »

The US House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing on nursing home care this week. During the hearing, a government official told lawmakers that 20% of US nursing home care is directly harmful to nursing home residents. This means that aside from nursing home abuse and neglect, some nursing home care techniques are directly harmful. Additionally, the hearing provided valuable information on possible federal plans to centralize information about non-compliant nursing homes and new suggestions for quality of care policies.

Read more here.

The National Citizen’s Coalition for Nursing Home Reform (NCCNHR), in conjunction with the SEIU, has set up a toll free hotline to get people in touch with their Senators about the importance of S. 2641, the Nursing Home Transparency and Improvement Act of 2008. To call, dial 1-866-544-7573. After a brief message about the bill, you will be asked to press "1" to be connected to a Capitol operator. Ask for your senator's office. (Senators are listed in order by State on the Senate website, if you need to find their names.) According to NCCHNR, When the senator's office answers, identify yourself and say:

"Please ask Senator ______ to co-sponsor S. 2641, the Nursing Home Transparency and Improvement Act. The bill is sponsored by Senators Grassley and Kohl. Nursing home residents and their families in Illinois are strongly supporting this bill."

The Act would improve publicly available resources and information about nursing homes, increase transparency of Medicare and Medicaid spending in nursing homes, shed light on nursing home ownership, and improve the consumer complaint process. See NCCHNR’s website for information on the Act and be sure to call.

See NCCNHR’s website here.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has threatened to cut its payments for nursing homes by 0.3%. Though the percentage seems small, the economic consequences in the nursing home industry will be much larger. This cut could usher in a total of $4.2 billion and has nursing home industry financiers attempting to figure out what these cuts could look like to nursing home profits for the next few years. Unfortunately, profit often seems the only priority for operators of large nursing home chains. All too often, profits are placed above patient and resident care and can lead to cases of nursing home abuse and neglect, and even nursing home resident deaths.

Read more here.

Levin & Perconti Founder and Senior Partner John Perconti was interviewed Chicago’s ABC affiliate about the dangers of uninsured nursing homes. The report focused on Rosewood Nursing Homes, specifically the Rosewood Inverness nursing home where a resident died after falling while abandoned in a washroom for an extended period of time. According to Perconti, the nursing home has now taken a defensive position. This case highlights the dangers of uninsured nursing homes: when a nursing home is at fault for a resident’s nursing home abuse and neglect, the victim deserves just and reasonable compensation for their injuries. An uninsured nursing home can attempt to escape responsibility. In fact, some Rosewood Nursing Homes are insured by foreign corporations that do not follow US laws and are not subject to jurisdiction in US courts.

See the video here.

A recent article highlights the dangers of residing in and placing family members in uninsured nursing homes. Uninsured nursing homes are extremely dangerous for residents because there is no way that residents can get fair and reasonable compensation for their injuries and families can recoup fair and reasonable compensation for their loved one’s wrongful death in a nursing home abuse and neglect lawsuit. The article highlights three tragic cases where a woman suffered severe pressure sores because nurses did not maintain her cast, another woman suffered when she was left on a bedpan for too long, and one resident died from dehydration in a nursing home. Unfortunately, none of these residents nor their families could fair and reasonable compensation for their injuries. Currently, the Illinois House is considering HB 5213 which would require at least $1 million in insurance coverage for Illinois nursing homes to protect residents who may be victims of nursing home abuse and neglect.

Read more about the dangers of uninsured nursing homes here.

The US Senate has begun consideration of a new act that would raise the bar on nursing home care nationwide and attempt to curb nursing home abuse and neglect. The Nursing Home Transparency and Improvement Act, S. 2641, would shed light on the quality and operation of nursing homes and implement new standards for care. Specifically, the Act would provide public information on the owners/operators of nursing homes, the staff turnover, nurse staffing levels, and penalties the home receives for poor care. Together, this information will help elder advocates and nursing home abuse and neglect lawyers to get a better sense of an individual home’s quality of care.

Additionally, the Act would require independent audits of nursing home chains and increase sanctions on chains with chronic problems of nursing home abuse and neglect. Facilities in violation would face increased civil penalties including fines up to $100,000 when a resident dies from nursing home abuse and neglect. Facilities would also have to pay fines into escrow accounts pending appeals.

Other provisions include a requirement that facilities give 60 days notice when they plan to close and allow for continuation of Medicare and Medicaid payments until residents are successfully relocated and a provision to provide for studies of temporary management and training of nurse aides and supervisors.

Visit NCCNHR to learn more here.

The debate over arbitration agreements for nursing home residents now has a new voice: the American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living, two lobbying groups for the nursing home industry, now argue that arbitration agreements would improve nursing home resident care. However, arbitration agreements often severely limit the amount and type of recovery that a resident can seek if there is nursing home abuse and neglect and only serve to prevent nursing home residents from seeking justice in court. Nursing home residents should not lose their rights to seek justice and ensure that they are protected from nursing home abuse and neglect by filing a nursing home abuse and neglect lawsuit.

Read more about arbitration agreements here.

Recently, lawmakers debated whether or not to limit damages on nursing home abuse and neglect lawsuits. Families of victims of nursing home abuse and neglect traveled to Capitol Hill to voice their opposition against a bill that would limit damages from nursing home abuse lawsuits. The bill would have placed a $300,000 cap on any lawsuit involving death or injury at a nursing home

For the full article.

Illinois nursing home advocates are not alone in their quest for ensuring that Illinois nursing homes are properly insured against injuries that occur in their facilities to residents from wrongful conduct. This week, an Oklahoma submitted an amendment to mandate that nursing homes in that state carry at least $250,000 of liability insurance.

Click here for the full article.

A bill to increase nursing home transparency and improve overall quality was recently introduced in Congress and is set to be heard by the Senate Committee on Finance. The Nursing Home Transparency and Improvement Act seeks to reform the ailing nursing home industry that appears to be providing a perpetually deteriorating level of care.

The Act’s many provisions aim to improve transparency in the ownership and operation of nursing homes, requires disclosure of how Medicare and Medicaid funds are used, and establishes an independent monitoring system for nursing home chains. Further, the NHTIA would collect more accurate information about nursing home staff and would implement a new consumer complaint process that would protect residents from retaliation by the nursing facility. Finally, the bill would increase the availability of federal civil monetary remedies for the first time since 1987.

The NHTIA is a step in the right direction toward supporting nursing home patients both before and after an injury has occurred. If passed, the bill will likely improve the level of care given to nursing home residents and will allow injured residents to receive more adequate compensation.

Click here for access to the complete bill:

Today great progress was made in advancing the rights of Illinois nursing home residents and their families. The good news comes in the form of House Bill #5213, which has the potential to improve nursing home care in Illinois by demanding accountability from Illinois nursing homes and long-term care facilities as a prerequisite to obtaining and retaining a license.

Currently, 20% of Illinois nursing homes don’t carry liability insurance. This means many Illinois nursing home residents who are abused and neglected in nursing homes cannot be compensated for injuries they suffer from a nursing home's wrongdoing. Furthermore, facilities are not even required to notify residents and their families that they are uninsured.

Today, the House Human Services committee passed HB 5213 sponsored by Representative David Miller. HB 5213 provides that no person may establish, operate, maintain, offer, or advertise a long-term care facility unless they provide the Department of Public Health with proof of liability insurance in an amount not less than $1 million. HB 5213 also reinstates a provision that was removed from the statutes in 1995 that provides that a licensee shall pay treble damages (the greater of three times the actual amount of damages or $500) in addition to costs and attorney's fees when the rights of a resident are violated.

Please join advocates for Illinois' elderly in our efforts to protect the rights of Illinois nursing home residents and their families and to hold Illinois nursing homes accountable for their wrongdoing. A copy of the bill's full text can be found here.

Please contact us if you have any questions at 312-332-2872.

Those who file an Illinois nursing home abuse and neglect lawsuit will now be forced to submit the case to a mediator before moving on to trial. This new mediation mandate is part of an amendment to a new Illinois medical malpractice rule that was approved this week by the Illinois Supreme Court.

For the full article.

A recent Kaiser Report examined the rush of media following the Bush administration proposed changes for Medicaid could affect states. Florida journalists argue that the funding reductions will hit nursing homes in particular because Medicare does not pay for extended nursing home care. Oklahoma experts state that the Medicaid changes would eliminate tens of millions of dollars in appropriations for each state. One chance narrows a field of state workers paid by Medicaid who assist developmentally disabled residents.

These laws must be carefully scrutinized for their effects on the nursing home community. If nursing homes are not properly funded, there are not enough nurses to care for the residents. Then - nursing home abuse and neglect inevitably results.

For the full article.

A bipartisan bill introduced by Republican Senator Grassley and Democratic Senator Kohl seeks massive reforms of the nursing home industry. The Nursing Home Transparency and Improvement Act is being haled as the largest reform of the nursing home system in nearly 21 years.

One of the key provisions in the bill would require nursing homes to file paperwork clearly stating ownership. This is in response to a recent trend of private investment groups purchasing nursing homes and then enveloping them in a quagmire of procedures that effectively shield them from liability. These structures make it increasingly difficult to identify parties responsible for substandard care and shield owners from potential lawsuits. The bill also would standardize complaint forms, improve staff reporting, and replace some self-reported information with information from independent audits. The goal of these provisions is to increase transparency and assist the public in comparing nursing homes.

The bill largely affects for-profit nursing homes and is receiving support from not-for-profit facilities as they are already required to produce much of the same information to achieve tax exempt status. Ultimately, the bill is a much needed response to declining care in nursing homes stemming from vague ownership structures that make it increasingly difficult to hold inferior facilities accountable.

Full article:

Knowing which nursing homes are bad can be valuable information for a family seeking long-term care for an elderly loved one but concerned about issues like nursing home abuse and neglect. Recently, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced the names of 54 nursing homes that had ranked as one of the worst in their state. Proper administration of medication to patients, appropriate assistance with activities of daily life and concern for the prevention of malnutrition and dehydration are examples of what inspectors look for in nursing homes. Inspectors also look for signs of nursing home abuse and neglect such as failure to maintain resident safety and prevent accidents, such as falls, infections, bed sores and other problems elderly people are susceptible to.

The list published by CMS containing the names of 54 nursing homes is actually a sample of 128 "special focus facilities", or homes that were identified as in need of more oversight. CMS says that the rest of the facilities were not identified because during the six months after being titled a "focus facility" they showed improvement. Democratic legislators, however, are demanding that all of the names be released in order to protect nursing home residents. Most nursing homes have around 6-7 deficiencies identified during inspection, but the ones on the list had twice as many or more. Unfortunately, no national standard has been set for the investigations so each state has its own parameters. An Illinois nursing home can be considered in terrible condition, but would not qualify in another state. A bill was recently introduced in the legislature to make it mandatory for CMS to publish all of the names, but the issue of discrepancies between states' standards is an issue that should be addressed by congress.

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A new law passed recently makes nursing home and hospital patients with a risk of falling safer. The law acknowledges problems with the handling and care of patients. Many lawsuits each year are brought on behalf of patients who are injured because the higher level of care they required when being transported or lifted was not met. Patients that are at risk are those at facilities that, either because of neglectful practices, staffing issues or lack of appropriate equipment, are unable to provide the care needed. The new law requires health care facilities to purchase equipment designed to aid in the lifting and handling of patients, such as mechanical lifts, as well as solving many issues relating to nursing home and hospital staff. The New Jersey law makes it mandatory for health care workers to be properly trained and also require that there are enough staff members on hand to be able to meet the needs of patients requiring lifting or transportation. Also important is the protection workers are given from being penalized by employers for refusing to handle a patient because of a concern for the patient's or their own safety and wellbeing. Many times, patients require multiple staff members in a patient handling procedure and when there are not enough workers available to help, the resulting safety risks are unacceptable. Hopefully other states, including Illinois, will follow suit.

Twenty years ago, Congress passed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA) and it is now time to review its successes and failures in order to improve the quality of nursing home care. OBRA regulates inadequate nursing homes by either shutting them down or allowing well-performing nursing home care providers to take over substandard facilities. However, the system in place requires that those who take over failing homes must be responsible for the liabilities that the previous management had incurred, including fines, penalties and deadlines to correct certain problems, including issues regarding nursing home abuse and neglect. Because the new management must take on these liabilities there are less resources to dedicate to improvement of the quality of care. The American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA) has strongly urged congress to pass legislation regarding "the counterproductive nurse aide training lock-out, the need for joint training of nursing home and surveyor staff, allowing states to demonstrate alternative quality assurance systems, facilitating new ownership for chronic problem homes, and using civil money funds to improve nursing home quality."

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In a decision that marks a new era in nursing-home ownership in Wisconsin, a license was approved Thursday to a private equity company to run eight Manorcare facilities statewide.

A spokeswoman for the state Department of Health and Family Services said the one-year probationary license will take effect after Manor Care notifies the department that its ownership transfer deal has closed with Carlyle Group, one of the nation's largest private equity companies.

Rick Rump, assistant vice president of corporate communications for Manor Care headquarters in Toledo, Ohio, said he expects the transaction to be closed by the end of the year. The transaction includes similar pending buyouts in other states.

Five of the eight Manor Care facilities are located in Northeastern Wisconsin, with two in Green Bay.

The decision comes three days after two of the state's biggest lobbying groups testified during a public hearing at the State Capitol against the $6 billion buyout.

Their main concerns were whether the corporate structure would be so complex that patients would have difficulty bringing lawsuits against the company for negligent injury or wrongful death, and whether ownership changes would result in declining quality of care.

For the full artcle, Click Here

Susan L. Novosad of Chicago-based law firm Levin & Perconti has recently filed a lawsuit against Manor Care of Oak Lawn on behalf of the family of an abused and neglected resident. The resident, a 75-year-old woman, entered the nursing home for rehabilitation after a hip fracture. She also suffered from Alzheimer's disease. The woman was a patient at Manor Care for only four weeks. During those few weeks, the patient developed severe pressure sores; one of the sores developed into a Stage IV pressure ulcer. The woman was eventually taken to the hospital for wrist pain, but during that visit she was diagnosed with pneumonia, dehydration, severe malnutrition and sepsis (an infection in her blood), in addition to the bed sores. The malnutrition and dehydration caused the patient to lose 13 pounds during those four weeks. As a result of these injuries, the woman ultimately died.

Family members had complained to the facility, but a nurse replied that she was too busy to take constant care of the patient. The nursing home is also accused of negligently allowing the patient to lie in her own waste for prolonged periods of time and failing to follow the orders of the patient's doctor, allowing for mistakes in the administration of medication and treatment. Novosad discovered that the woman's chart revealed that sixteen days had passed without any notes by a nurse. In regards to Manor Care's promise to sufficiently care for patients and meet their needs Novosad stated, "families really trust them. It's heartbreaking."

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The Children's Health and Medicare Protection Act (CHAMP) has passed in the House this summer to renew the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). CHAMP provides new protections for Medicare beneficiaries and provides health insurance to 5 million uninsured children. Annual payment increases to Medicare skilled nursing facilities will be frozen for one year to help pay for expanded coverage. The freeze would have negative effects for 1.7 million nursing home residents and staff. The government has annually increased Medicare payments to nursing homes but continues to fail to improve quality standards. Some problems with this policy include undercompensation of nursing home staff (to the extent that many of them get health care coverage through Medicaid and SCHIP) and the fact that RN staffing is rapidly decreasing. As stated by the National Citizens' Coalition for Nursing Home Reform (NCCNHR):

Medicare reform would do more to ensure quality for residents than continuing to give facilities automatic annual increases. We are asking Congress to require nursing homes to report accurate staffing data, including the number of staff and what they spend on nursing; to establish a separate funding stream in Medicare for nursing costs that can't be transferred to profits; and to set minimum staffing standards for all facilities.

Please write or call your local Representative and ask him or her to support CHAMP
Email jwells@nccnhr.org with any questions

In a new initiative to improve health care, Medicare will no longer pay hospital costs of treating illness, injuries or infections resulting from medical mistakes or negligence. By not paying the extra costs of treating preventable injuries or illness in hospitals, the lives of many patients and millions of dollars can be saved. Currently, Medicare pays for treatments resulting from medical malpractice and negligence. Private insurers are considering following Medicare's lead, which could greatly increase benefits and savings for patients and make insurance less expensive and more accessible.

Preventable conditions that will no longer be covered include bedsores, or pressure ulcers, injuries or death caused by falls and unnecessarily contracted infections. This will force doctors and hospitals to take more care in following policies and procedures to prevent these types of avoidable errors. Hospital advocates have tried to fight back, making claims that some injuries, such as pressure sores, are unavoidable. However, Levin & Perconti recently settled a case for $1 million in which a nursing home claimed that pressure sores were unavoidable. This theory proved false when the paraplegic patient was treated somewhere else and the pressure ulcers healed. This initiative is a federal recognition that many illnesses and injuries are caused by hospitals and doctors not following policies and procedures or meeting the standard of care. Because pressure ulcers are not covered by Medicare, for instance, the federal government is acknowledging that they are, in fact, avoidable and a result of negligence.

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The budget being debated in the Illinois General Assembly threatens in-home and community-based care services for the elderly. As the population ages, Illinois should be looking for more ways to accommodate as many people as possible. However, the state is investing mainly in nursing homes. Seniors that need basic care will be forced to move to nursing homes even though they are able to live at home with some assistance. Such programs as delivering meals to rural seniors, improving community programs and helping manages seniors' medication could receive a serious blow. Seniors who can maintain a semi-independent living situation should continue to do so, instead of being unnecessarily confined to nursing home care.

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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services approved a 3.3% rise in Medicare payments for skilled nursing facilities for fiscal year 2008. This rise was a reflection of the fact that current rates are based on data from FY 1997. The new rates will be based on data from 2004. Approximately $690 million more will paid next year. Hopefully this rise will help skilled nursing facilities provide better and more reliable care and homes will no longer be able to blame the prevalence of nursing home abuse and neglect on lack of funding.

In order to improve the quality of food in nursing homes and long term care facilities, the allowance per resident for food rose from CAD $5.57 to CAD $7. CAD $7is equivalent to about USD $6.57. In Canada, as in the United States, the plight of elders, especially those in nursing homes or long term care facilities, is a tragically overlooked problem. Although Canada and the United States are both making efforts to advocate and support the elderly community, there is still much to be done. Particularly because the population is aging at a rate like never before. In Canada, for instance, although the allowance for nursing home residents has risen to CAD $7, prisoners are allocated CAD $11.43. While Canada seems to be making progress, neglect of the elderly population clearly does not just occur in nursing homes, but in public policy as well.

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In Ohio, sheriffs are required to notify neighbors when sexual predators live near by and enforce laws prohibiting sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a school. Nursing home residents are not exempt from these laws, but because the intent of the laws is to protect children and because elder abuse is an overlooked crisis in America, nursing home residents are forced, unknowingly, to live in homes shared with sex offenders and other criminals. With nursing home abuse and neglect being an important problem we face today, it is important to make sure loved ones are safe, protected and cared for- not at danger of sexual assault and misconduct. The Ohio state legislature is debating a bill that would require nursing homes to disclose the presence of sexual offenders to new or prospective patients. In one instance, a family placed an 18-year-old mentally retarded woman in a long term care facility but was unaware of the presence of sexual predators. Eventually, the home's failure to supervise residents convicted of sexual offenses allowed the woman to be raped by a sexual predator previously convicted of raping three women. It is going to be important, in the face of a growing elder population, to raise awareness of the many hazards of nursing home care.

Contacting elder advocates like ombudsmen and elder law attorneys can help send nursing homes the message that we are paying attention. They can not get away with underfunding homes, allowing for abuse and neglect, while the owners are pocketing excess cash. Contacting state agencies, advocates and elder law attorneys is the first step toward deterring nursing homes from continuing in their careless practices.

Continue reading "Sex offenders live unidentified in nursing homes" »

The Senate Special committee on Aging will be holding a hearing on abuse July 18th. They are looking for a resident or family member of a resident who had been abused by a person with a criminal record whose abuse could have been prevented if there had been a criminal background check. If you or a person you know have been a victim under these circumstances please contact Ben Kessler, assistant to the Chief Investigator, at 202-224-0185. More information can be found at this website.

The Patient Safety and Abuse Prevention Act was introduced by Senators Pete Domenici and Herb Kohl, chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, and it would require comprehensive criminal background checks on long term care workers who have direct access to residents. The checks would include requiring nursing homes to screen prospective employees – while providing supervised provisional employment for thirty days – by checking criminal records, abuse and neglect agencies in all states, records from agencies such as Medicaid fraud control units and professional licensing boards. Sates would be required to penalize facilities for noncompliance and fine facilities that knowingly employ a worker with a criminal background.
Please help pass this legislation! This bill (S. 1577) is intended to stop workers with criminal records from working with vulnerable people.

Click here to read the bill
Click here to read the National Citizen's Coalition for Nursing Home Reform's letter of support

States all over the country are grappling with the issue of who is mentally fit to vote. Nursing home residents, especially those with Alzheimer’s, are coming into question, as well as people living with other disabilities. The mentally disabled and their advocates are fighting to secure voting rights while psychiatrists and those that work with the elderly are concerned about the risks of voting by people with conditions like Alzheimer’s and dementia. Many people with dementia vote or want to vote but it is important to ensure that they are not pressured to vote certain ways. A New Jersey nursing home employee won a county election but was forced to step down after it was revealed that she took advantage of mentally incapacitated residents. Similar accusations have been reported in Alabama, South Carolina and other states. This summer, lawyers led by the American Bar Association and a group of psychiatrists will publish recommendations for national standards suggesting that people should only be banned from voting if they cannot indicate a “specific desire to participate in the voting process.”

New Jersey’s constitution currently forbids an “idiot or insane person” from voting and an amendment may appear on the November ballot. Advocates want the words removed, but fear they will be replaced with vague and restrictive language. A current Missouri lawsuit seeks to overturn the current state voting ban for people under full guardianship because of mental illness. A current debate in Rhode Island concerns the voting rights of the criminally insane. Only two states allows jailed felons to vote but advocates argue that the criminally insane are evaluated based on dangerousness and not voting capacity, and that voting can be part of rehabilitation moving them “closer to society.” State laws are inconsistent, but the emerging model is based on the 2001 ruling in Maine which allows people to vote if they understand the voting process and can make the choice. Assessing such qualifications is still controversial.

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Nursing home residents receive an exemption from Part D co-payments, and this exemption should be extended to assisted living and board & care patients who receive Medicaid. Medications can eat away most of these residents’ incomes and residents of community-based facilities should have the same rights as nursing home residents. So ask your Senator to support the Home and Community Based Services Co-payment Equity Act (S. 1107).

Click here to read the bill

The Nursing Home Fire Safety Act would provide loans or grants to nursing homes to retrofit their buildings with automatic sprinkler systems. The bill includes a non binding “sense of the Congress” that within five years, every nursing home will be equipped with sprinklers. This bill is important because it is especially difficult to evacuate and protect nursing home residents in case of fire.

Click here to access the bill

The Senate Elder Justice Bill (S. 1070) currently has nine cosponsors and the House bill (H.R. 1783) has 61.

Click here to see whether your legislators have signed up (check bill summary and status).

A bill introduced in the Senate last week as the Patient Safety and Abuse Prevention Act of 2007 would mandate a nationwide background check for employees of nursing homes and other long term care facilities. While many states already require background checks within the state, the new bill would integrate the state background check with the FBI's national database of criminal history records. The goal of the bill would be to prevent physical or sexual abuse of seniors by ensuring that those with violent criminal histories are kept out of our nation's nursing homes.

Continue reading "Bill seeks nationwide background checks for nursing home workers" »

A warm welcome to Alison Hirschel as president of the NCCNHR. The NCCNHR focuses on such issues as nursing home abuse and neglect, adequate staffing in nursing home, working conditions of long-term care staff, resident’s rights, family support, development and support for the long-term care ombudsman program, and more. This organization has achieved great success and continues further in its work toward much needed nursing home reform.

Click here to find out more about the NCCNHR

The Illinois Senate passed HB 1798 on Thursday, May 17 by a vote of 31-23. The bill now heads to the Governor for signing. If passed, the bill would allow damages for grief, sorrow, and mental anguish for the wrongful death of a loved one.

A roll call on this vote can be found here.
For more information on the bill.

Recently, the NCCNHR represented nursing home residents, family members, and other consumer advocates at a Senate Aging Committee hearing. Executive Director Alice Hedt made recommendations about improving conditions in nursing homes and preventing nursing home abuse and neglect. Now is the time for Congress to act on those recommendations. You can help by doing the following:

Write your Congressman, expressing support for recommendations made by NCCNHR.

Identify opportunities for you to share your experiences with enforcement and staffing through letters to the editor, talk shows, and radio shows. This will get the press to focus on nursing home issues. Share your efforts with Jessica Brill at jbrill@nccnhr.org.

For more information on the National Citizen’s Coalition for Nursing Home Reform.

A coalition of 34 consumer groups has begun to lobby Congress to revise a law that requires individuals with disabilities to wait two years to become eligible for Medicare after they begin to receive Social Security benefits. Medicare implemented the wait period in 1972; however, a recent report stated that the law is sentencing people to inadequate health care, poverty, and death.

For the full article.