(859) 312-5617ATTENTION, NURSING HOME REFORM VOLUNTEERS:
IT’S TIME TO GO TO WORK.
JOIN THE PETITION DRIVE FOR SAFE STAFFING STANDARDS IN
NURSING HOMES.
HERE’S WHAT TO DO:
1. Go to the attachment with this e-mail. This is the
petition.
2. Print it out.
3. Now, take it everywhere you can, explaining how
important it is to have minimum staffing standards in
nursing homes.
4. Get everybody to sign it and clearly print their
e-mail addresses.
5. Send the petition to: Kentuckians For Nursing Home
Reform, 1530 Nicholasville Road, Lexington, KY 40503
START NOW.
DOWNLOAD THE
PETITION (MS WORD).
OPEN IT UP AND PRINT IT.
GOOD LUCK.
AND THANKS!
OUR TOP 5 OBJECTIVES
1. EDUCATIONAL SEMINARS... Launch a series
of educational seminars to educate the public about the
issues facing nursing home residents in Kentucky.
2. QUALITY STAFFING STANDARDS... Work to get
legislation passed in Kentucky and Washington to set minimum
staffing standards for all nursing homes.
3. BACKGROUND CHECKS AND DRUG TESTING... Work to
get legislation passed that would require background
checks on all nursing home employees, not just the ones
who provide direct care to residents. Also, establishing
routine random drug tests for all nursing home
employees.
4. INSPECTION TIP-OFFS... Amend a law just passed
in the 2006 session of the legislature that mandates termination
of any state employee who tips off a nursing home that they are
going to be inspected by the state.
5. MORE PUBLIC EXPOSURE OF INSPECTION RESULTS... Results
of state inspections of nursing homes are now listed on
the Medicare web site, Nursing Home Compare, and
displayed in the nursing home. This results in very
little public exposure. A law or regulation must be
passed to mandate that the Cabinet for Health and Family
Services report results of each nursing home inspection
to the news media in the local service area of the
nursing home.
[Click here to read our full Mission Statement]
NEW PUBLICATION
Now available for free download:
How to Protect Nursing Home Residents:
A Guide for Taking Action Against Abuse and Neglect
From the Kentucky Office of the Attorney General. In
addition to download link offered above, requests for copies may
be sent to:
lori.farris@ag.ky.gov
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT
ASSISTED LIVING
WITH ANSWERS BY LEXINGTON NURSING HOME OMBUDSMAN KATHY GANNOE
Frequently Asked Questions regarding assisted living arrangements.
NEWS NOTES
Nursing Homes Over-Medicate Dementia and
Alzheimer's Patients
By Dan Frith
Does your mother, father, or other family member in a nursing
home take Seroquel, Risperdal, Haldol, or other antipsychotics?
If so, it is probably because they have a diagnosis of dementia
or Alzheimer's disease. Why do nursing home patients receive
antipsychotics if they do not have a diagnosis of a psychiatric
condition? Great question...and the answer is MONEY! [more]
Nursing Homes
take beating in
Capitol Hill hearings
As expected, critics lit into nursing home owners and their management practices Thursday at a pair of congressional hearings. Providers attempted to blunt the criticism by defending their practices and, in some cases, offering to work with reformers.
At a Senate Special Committee on Aging
hearing, Chairman Herb Kohl (D-WI) announced that he and Sen.
Charles Grassley (R-IA) intend to introduce a bill that would
guarantee public disclosure of nursing homes' inspection
results, staffing levels and ownership status. [more]
Seniors Fear Moving Into A Nursing Home
Senior citizens
fear moving into a nursing home and losing their independence
more than they fear death,
according to a study, “Aging
in Place in America,” commissioned by
Clarity and
The EAR Foundation, which also found that the Baby Boomer
children of seniors also fear for their parents.
[more]
More Profit and Less Nursing at Many Homes
By Charles Duhigg
Private investors in nursing homes have cut expenses and staff, sometimes
below minimum requirements.
For this article, The New York Times analyzed trends at nursing homes
purchased by private investment groups by examining data available from the
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a division of the Department of
Health and Human Services. [more]
UK AND DEVELOPER ANNOUNCE SITE AND PLANS
FOR NEW CONTINUING CARE COMMUNITY
By Bernie Vonderheide
The University of Kentucky announced today that its new continuing care
community will be located on the Fayette-Jessamine county line on 89.1 acres of
land on Brannon Road near the new Brannon Crossing shopping center, just off
Nicholasville Road.
When developed, the project will include facilities for independent living with
200 apartments and free-standing homes, an assisted living facility, and a
skilled care nursing home with private rooms and a “memory support” unit for
residents with some kind of dementia.
[more]
Behind those
nursing-home ads
By Joel Englehardt
During its first decade, the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care has been quick to protect Medicare payments to nursing homes. What could be better for America's elderly than an industry watchdog fighting for their rights?
In newspaper and television ads targeting U.S. Reps. Ron Klein, D-Delray Beach, and Tim Mahoney, D-Palm Beach Gardens, the alliance points out that Congress doesn't have to cut Medicare spending for the elderly to help uninsured children receive subsidized health insurance through the SCHIP program. Congress can do both. [more]
LET'S DO THE NUMBERS - 1 CEO or 2000 NURSESES
by Toby S. Edelman
There is a great NPR show, Market Place, where the
host always says "Let's do the numbers." Well, someone has done the numbers for
us in the big business corporate nursing home industry. What if you took the
money a CEO would make (or shareholder dividends) and put it toward staffing and
resident care.
"Reports that Manor Care’s CEO Paul Ormond would personally realize between $118
and $186 million when his company, the largest nursing home chain in the United
States, is acquired later this year by a private equity group got us thinking
about staffing in nursing homes. Knowing that the federal government has
reported that more than 90% of nursing homes do not have enough staff to take
care of their residents, we wondered how many nurses and nurse aides could be
hired for a year at Manor Care’s nursing facilities with that same money.
[more]
Elderly Organize to Meet Problems of Aging
By Jane Gross
August 13, 2007
On a bluff overlooking the Potomac River, George and Anne Allen,
both 82, struggle to remain in their beloved three-story house and neighborhood,
despite the frailty, danger and isolation of old age.
Mr. Allen has been hobbled since he fractured his spine in a fall down the stairs, and expects to lose his driver’s license when it comes up for renewal when he turns 85. Mrs. Allen recently broke four ribs getting out of bed. Neither can climb a ladder to change a light bulb, or crouch under the kitchen sink to fix a leak. Stores and public transportation are an uncomfortable hike.
So the Allens have banded together with their neighbors, who are equally
determined to avoid being forced from their homes by dependence. Along with more
than 100 communities nationwide — a dozen of them here in Washington and its
suburbs — they are part of a movement to make neighborhoods comfortable places
to grow old, both for elderly men and women in need of help but not ready for
assisted living, and for baby boomers anticipating the future.
[more]
BEFORE YOU GET TAKEN IN BY ALL THOSE NURSING
HOME INDUSTRY
CLAIMS OF ‘QUALITY’, READ THIS:
By Joel Englehardt
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
During its first decade, the Alliance for Quality
Nursing Home Care has been quick to protect Medicare payments to nursing homes.
What could be better for America's elderly than an industry watchdog fighting
for their rights?
In newspaper and television ads targeting U.S. Reps. Ron Klein, D-Delray Beach,
and Tim Mahoney, D-Palm Beach Gardens, the alliance points out that Congress
doesn't have to cut Medicare spending for the elderly to help uninsured children
receive subsidized health insurance through the SCHIP program. Congress can do
both. [more]
Study: Hourly rate for nursing home RNs rises 4%
July 11 2007
The national median hourly rate for registered nurses in nursing
homes increased by almost 4% in this year compared to last year, a new study
finds.
The median RN nursing home rate is $25 per hour, according to the Hospital &
Healthcare Compensation Service, which released its latest report this week.
Last year, the median hourly rate was $24.07. Median represents the value below
and above which there is an equal number of values. [more]
California Health Care
Advocates Launch Investigation of Long-Term Care Insurers'
Claims-Handling Policies
May 29, 2007
The House Energy and Commerce Committee last week sent letters to long-term care insurers Conseco and Penn Treaty American to request documents as part of an investigation into the business practices of such companies, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The committee launched the investigation in response to a March New York Times article that examined issues related to long-term insurance (Colliver, San Francisco Chronicle, 5/26). [more]
Wall Street Journal Profiles New
Nursing Home in San Francisco
Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report
San Francisco plans to spend about $600 million to replace the Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center, an effort that "bucks a tenuous trend across the country" to provide care to seniors in their homes or in assisted living facilities, the Wall Street Journal reports. "A debate has long raged over whether it's cheaper to care for the elderly and frail in institutions or at home," and the federal government "now believes it can save Medicaid dollars and improve elderly people's lives by encouraging more home care," the Journal reports. However, nursing homes "still are favored by federal Medicaid payment rules, which in recent years have allowed the elderly and younger disabled to seek alternatives but require them to clear more hurdles to qualify," according to the Journal. [more]
Nursing home deaths probed;
Erlanger facility being scrutinized
By Peggy Kreimer
Kenton County Attorney Garry Edmondson is investigating whether five residents at Villaspring of Erlanger health care center died because of neglect or abuse.
Edmondson said the deaths at Villaspring happened over the past year. His office started its investigation two or three weeks ago after being contacted by family members and state workers from the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, which regulates nursing homes.
Edmondson announced the investigation this week to ask other relatives or friends of residents at Villaspring or other nursing homes in Kenton County to contact his office if they suspect residents are being neglected or abused. [more]
Oversight of Nursing Homes Is Criticized
By Robert Pear
Federal health officials impose only minimal penalties
on nursing homes repeatedly cited for mistreatment of patients,
Congressional investigators say in a new report.
As a result, they said, some nursing homes cycle in and out of
compliance with federal standards and pose a continued threat to
the health and safety of patients. [more]
Too much expected of too few nurses
FRONTLINE CAREGIVERS GET
LITTLE SUPPORT
By Dr. Kevin T. Kavanagh
No one should ever underestimate the importance of registered nurses. Without them, there could be no hospitals or nursing homes. The existence of these facilities is solely to provide nursing care. Home health agencies, surgery centers, imaging centers and urgent treatment centers can do the rest.
"How well we are cared for by nurses affects our health, and sometimes can be a matter of life and death," said an Institute of Medicine report which estimated in 2000 that as many as 98,000 patients die each year because of medical error. [more]
No change in
nursing home industry
By Bernie Vonderheide
Gracious sakes.
Does the "Nursing homes reinvent themselves" headline on the Herald-Leader's March 27 business page mean that we are finally going to get high-quality care in the 300 nursing homes across Kentucky?
Does it mean that there will be enough front-line care givers to take care of the residents and that when they ring a call bell it will be answered?
Does it mean that painful bed sores on residents will be a thing of the past because there will be enough staff to turn the bedridden ones on a regular basis?
Does it mean that nurses' aides will finally be paid a fair wage and given good benefits so that they won't leave in droves for "easy" jobs at McDonald's?
Does it mean that Kentucky politicians finally ignored the money pushed their way by the nursing home industry's powerful lobby and passed laws to regulate these facilities?
Nope. [more]
No logic in
opposing nursing home reform
By Kath McAlpine
Kudos to our elected officials for
drafting bills to set minimum standards for the megalithic
nursing home industry.
Is Kentucky going to be the 38th state to protect these
consumers with few rights, or the 50th? Put it off long enough
and we'll be 51st. Kentuckians who live in those facilities and
fund them one way or another deserve more. [more]
The ‘Gray’ Market
The New York Times
With 4.2 million Americans currently
over 85 — a number expected to grow to 5.9 million by 2014 and
then accelerate with the baby boom generation — the exploding
need for long-term care is remaking the home-care industry,
driving more of it underground. Gray-market hiring, fraught with
risks, is a solution that middle-class families are turning to
as they face the crushing burden of indefinite home-care
expenses. But it is hardly the only one, as businesses rush to
meet the needs of these families, the fastest-growing segment of
the marketplace, who are intent on keeping their loved ones out
of nursing homes. [more]
