In this Issue
- Families and Residents Fight St. Luke’s Sub-Acute Closure in San Francisco
- Governor Signs Bill Strengthening Nursing Home Closure Protections
- Inspector General Warns Nursing Home Residents Are at Risk of Abuse
- CMS Launches Jimmo Settlement Agreement Webpage
- Guardianship and the Representative Payee Program
- Brius Healthcare’s Insider Transactions
- Veteran’s Protection Coalition Receives National Award for Elder Abuse Prevention
Upcoming Events
Families and Residents Fight St. Luke’s Sub-Acute Closure in San Francisco – Watch the video
In San Francisco, family members and residents have united through a family council to fight plans by California Pacific Medical Center, an affiliate of Sutter Health, to close its St. Luke’s sub-acute unit and evict all of its residents. St. Luke’s is the only sub-acute facility in San Francisco. Residents – many of whom have lived at St. Luke’s for years – are being threatened with moves to facilities as far away as Sacramento and Los Angeles.
Watch the video produced by the Family Council
Governor Signs Bill Strengthening Nursing Home Closure Protections
On September 1, 2017, Governor Brown signed AB 275, a bill that will make modest improvements to California’s law governing nursing home closures. Effective January 1, 2018, it will require nursing homes to give greater advance notice to residents and others prior to closings and provide more information to the Department of Public Health on closure plans.
Inspector General Warns Nursing Home Residents Are at Risk of Abuse
On August 24, 2017, Daniel Levinson, the Inspector General for the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG), called on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to take immediate action to protect nursing home residents from abuse following a remarkable investigation that found CMS is not enforcing abuse reporting requirements in the Affordable Care Act that took effect in 2011. The investigation, like many before it, shows that nursing homes and public officials are often apathetic when residents suffer sexual assaults and other serious crimes.
CMS Launches Jimmo Settlement Agreement Webpage
In accordance with a February 1, 2017 court order, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has launched a website with information and resources on the Jimmo Setttlement.
Read More…
Read the Center for Medicare Advocacy’s press release on this development
Guardianship and the Representative Payee Program
The Center for Retirement Research has released their findings about the role of Guardianships and Representative Payees. Their study look at
1) How many beneficiaries with representative payees have guardians?
2) How many beneficiaries have their guardian as their payee?
3) What are the characteristics of those with both a payee and a guardian?
The policy implication of their finding were:
- While guardianship could lessen the need for representative payees since it provides a protective legal arrangement, few individuals with a representative payee have one.
- As more representative payees are needed with the aging of the Baby Boomers, pre-existing guardians seem unlikely to fill a large portion of the need.
Brius Healthcare’s Insider Transactions
On August 16, 2017, the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) released a report describing how Shlomo Rechnitz, the CEO of Brius Healthcare, may be profiting at the expense of residents of his nursing homes by steering millions of dollars in taxpayer funds to a web of companies he created to service his nursing homes. Rechnitz is California’s largest nursing home operator, owning or operating about 80 nursing homes in California. The NUHW report, Brius Healthcare’s Insider Transactions, states that in 2015 Rechnitz companies received $67 million in payments from Brius nursing homes, some of which were in the form of inflated rents. The report concludes that Californians expect nursing home operators to provide quality care, not to devise transactions that divert public funds from resident care.
Veteran’s Protection Coalition Receives National Award for Elder Abuse Prevention
The San Francisco Veterans Benefits Protection Project (VBPP) received the 2017 Aging Innovations Award from the National Association of Area Agencies for Aging. CANHR was a founding member of VBPP, a coalition working to protect senior veterans from pension poaching scams and financial predators. VBPP brings together a variety of organizations, including CANHR, the Institute on Aging’s Elder Abuse Prevention Program, the Department of Insurance, the CA Office of the Attorney General, and the SF Mayor’s office. CANHR’s work in financial elder abuse and the VBPP is funded in part by a grant from the California Community Foundation.
Upcoming Events
CANHR will be hosting an information booth at the following events
Councilman Curren D. Price, Jr. 17th Annual Senior Appreciation Luncheon
Thursday, September 21, 2017 from 9:00AM – 1:00PM
Location: Los Angeles Convention Center, Concourse Hall
1201 S. Figueroa St. Los Angeles, CA 90015
CANHR Happenings
