The Brandeis University Community Living Equity Center is seeking input from people of color who have lived in a nursing home or other institution to inform their study of culture and language challenges people with disabilities face when they transfer out of nursing homes to home and community based services.
The California Attorney General (A.G.) announced a $3.8 million settlement in a case against Alta Vista Healthcare and Wellness Center for illegally paying doctors to send hospital patients to the facility from 2009-2019. Alta Vista is owned by Shlomo Rechnitz, operated by Rockport Healthcare Services, and part of the second largest nursing home chain in California. According to the A.G.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that nursing home residents have the right to sue government-run nursing homes for violations of their federal rights.
On May 18, the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging released a report, “Uninspected and Neglected, Nursing Home Inspection Agencies are Severely Understaffed, Putting Residents at Risk.” The report links significant delays in nursing home inspections and complaint investigations with poor care and resident rights violations.
The California Department of Public Health (DPH) recently issued a District Office Memorandum (DOM) clarifying the criteria for substantiating complaints filed against nursing homes. When someone files a complaint about a nursing home, DPH conducts an investigation and gathers evidence from three sources outlined by federal and state guidance: on-site observations, interviews, and written records. CANHR was receiving reports that some DPH investigators were saying they could not substantiate a complaint or take enforcement action unless there was evidence from at least two of the three sources. The new DOM clarifies that there is no requirement to have evidence from at least two of the three sources; rather complaints are substantiated when it is more likely than not that a regulatory violation occurred, considering all of the evidence taken together. The DOM also states that long term care Ombudsmen are reliable sources of information and their observations should be considered evidence of regulatory compliance or noncompliance.
Office of the Inspector General (OIG) reports that The Centers for Medicare Medicaid Services (CMS), a federal agency that administers Medicare and Medicaid/Medi-Cal, did not accurately report on Care Compare nursing homes’ deficiencies as related to the nursing homes health, fire safety, and emergency preparedness.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta released new guidance on the role and responsibilities of mandated reporters in safeguarding elders and dependent adults.
This week Senators Ron Wyden and Bob Casey released a new report, Left in the Dark, that examines the impact of the 2021 Texas blackout on long-term care facilities.
The “What’s Wrong with Humboldt?” podcast recently reviewed the poor quality of nursing home care in Humboldt County and the state policies that enable it.
The Long Term Care Community Coalition placed a big lump of coal in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) stocking this Christmas with its excellent review of the current state of chemical restraints and resident drugging in America’s nursing homes.