NURSING HOME REFORM NEWSLETTER

April 7, 2006
 

GOV. FLETCHER SIGNS THREE BILLS

Gov. Ernie Fletcher signed three key bills on nursing home reform passed in the current General Assembly.  They are the three bills Kentuckians For Nursing Home Reform worked for and supported.  They are:

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION 176 - This bill was about as close as we could get in this session to doing something about staffing.  It orders the state to pursue a pilot program offered by the feds that would pay nursing homes money for hiring the proper number of nursing staff and for improving staff training and staff turnover.  The feds are about to announce such a program for selected nursing homes across the country.  We want all of Kentucky’s nursing homes to be included in the program.  The nursing home industry goes along with this proposal for the same reason they like everything - more money in their pockets.  We like it because there are 23,000 "Forgotten Kentuckians" out there who desperately need better care.   We have Sen. Ernesto Scorsone (D-Lexington) and Sen. Julie Denton (R-Louisville) to thank for getting behind this measure.  Now the job for reform advocates will be to get the state moving on this proposal as soon as it is officially available from Washingtonn.  Stay tuned.

SENATE BILL 141 - This bill would call for the firing of any state employee caught tipping off a nursing home that it was going to be inspected.  The bill was sponsored by Sen. Tom Buford (R-Nicholasville).  It was too bad that a stronger bill would probably not have made it through.  Rep. Kathy Stein (D-Lexington) introduced one that said anyone  caught tipping off a nursing home about a forthcoming inspection would be subject to a misdemeanor and fine.  Rep. Stein pulled her bill back when it became apparent that SB 141 was the only one going to pass in this session.  We will work on strengthening it in 2007.

HOUSE BILL 121 - This bill says that any nursing home without fire sprinkler protection must notify persons applying by admission in writing.  Unbelievably there are more than 20 nursing homes in Kentucky with only partial or no sprinkler fire protection.  The bill was sponsored by Rep. Susan Westrom (D-Lexington).   After realizing that nothing was being done by the feds on this important fire safety measure, she cleverly introduced her bill that in effect says, "No one in their right mind would put someone in a nursing home without fire protection if they are told about it in advance."

TAKE A BOW……

We truly believe that the bills and resolution above would not have passed without your support.  Did you notice that we did not call any of you to contact your legislators?  Or appear at committee hearings?   Some of you did write letters to the editors, and that was good.  In the end, what we have here is a big challenge to educate the public and lawmakers about the real problems in nursing homes. These bills made sense to all the lawmakers, and the nursing home industry did not lobby against them.  Besides.  How can you lobby against fire protection, honesty in the survey process, and more money for doing what you ought to be doing in the first place?   That’s where the industry found itself.  Besides writing letters to the editors, the industry was very quiet, and we hardly ever saw their big-shot lobbyists roaming the halls.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Along with a host of other issues - like background checks on all nursing home employees and random drug testing of them - we still do not have minimum quality staffing standards.  The first test will be to see what the state does with SJR 176.  Will the state really implement model pilot programs for nursing homes that will emphasize sufficient staffing?  We will be working on that and may well need your help.

WE’RE GROWING.

Kentuckians For Nursing Home Reform is growing and maturing.  We now have thousands of supporters from all over the state.    We are seeking incorporation as a non-profit organization and we expect that to come soon.  We hope this summer to have a big meeting of everyone interested in our cause.  And we hope to sponsor some educational seminars.  Your help and participation is needed on all these things.

WILL KENTUCKY FOLLOW WISCONSIN?

According to The Associated Press, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle signed a bill into law increasing funding by $26.8 million for nursing homes that accept Medicaid patients.  Doyle had vetoed a similar increase in the state budget last year as part of his action to carve out a bigger funding increase for public schools. Members of both parties in the Wisconsin state legislature said the veto would harm rural nursing homes and pushed again for an increase.   Doyle said he could sign the increase now because his administration cut costs in Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance program for the poor and disabled, and state revenues had increased at a faster rate than expected.  The bill provides a 2.8 percent increase in the Medicaid reimbursement rate for nursing home care over two years. That will translate to $11.4 million more in state funding and $15.4 million more in federal funds by mid-2007, Gov. Doyle said.  Meanwhile,  Kentucky officials also are crowing about how their new Medicaid program will cut costs.  Wonder if they are going to pass the savings on to the "poor" nursing home industry?  No one knows how rich the industry is because no audited reports on it are released by the state, as far as we know.  And Kentucky nursing homes just received a big boost in Medicaid reimbursement from the provider tax that was sneaked through the legislature.  In the state fiscal year 2005, the nursing homes received more than $640 million in state-federal Medicaid reimbursement.  That was a $46.6 million increase (note that Wisconsin was a $27 million increase).  Eleven percent of that boost in Kentucky came from the provider tax.

SHORT STUFF

·        According to the Kentucky Post, the 286-bed Lakeside Heights nursing home in Highland Heights, Northern Kentucky, is being shut down by the state for deficiencies.  It was one of the largest nursing homes in the state at one time.  The newspaper said "The nursing home has apparently been short-staffed recently."  "Staff shortages could compromise residents’ care," said Pat Dressman, a Northern Kentucky human services official.

·        The feds have ordered nursing homes to repay Medicaid for unused medications.  In Kentucky, "We’re already doing that," said Medicaid Commissioner Shannon R. Turner.  "Actually we have taken a little credit for this change," she said.  "CMS liked what we were doing."

·        Advocates for Alzheimer’s Disease patients in nursing homes lobbied hard in the legislative session for passage of House Bill 483 which would have ordered nursing homes to give their caregivers special training in handling Alzheimer’s patients.  The bill did not get out of committee because the industry apparently didn’t want it.  They usually do not want anything that will cost them extra money.  But there are a few nursing homes in Kentucky that specialize in giving care to persons with Alzheimer’s and other dementia’s.  You can get a list by calling the Alzheimer’s Association at 1-800-288-2323.

·        A grand jury has indicted a former Certified Nursing Assistant at the Grand Haven Nursing Home in Cynthiana for alleged abuse of a resident there. The state attorney general brought the charges against her.  For some reason, we are seeing the attorney general get more and more involved in nursing home problems.

·        Two Certified Nursing Assistants at the Irvine Health and Rehabilitation Center pleaded guilty to criminal abuse for giving laxatives to patients who did not need them.  They did it as a prank on the other nurse aides at the facility.  Their five-year prison sentence was probated.  This was another case where the state attorney general prosecuted.

·        An interesting tid-bit on the nursing homes that are always pleading lack of sufficient funds: The New York Times reported that "nursing home operators said it would be absurd to freeze Medicare payments at a time when patients, their relatives and the Bush administration were demanding improvements in the quality of care."   But the staff of the Medicare payment commission wouldn’t fall for that old excuse.  They said that current rates were "more than adequate."  Amen.

·        The organization that represents nursing home workers in Iowa is complaining that the turnover is estimated as high as 60 percent annually in Iowa nursing homes. Wonder what it is in Kentucky?  We think it is even higher, but the solution is the same everywhere.  Better pay and benefits.  And more staff so the few there do not work themselves to death.

·        The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society reports research that revealed that many nursing home residents have poorly controlled pain because of inadequate medication treatment.  And the American Geriatrics Society reports that 45 to 80 percent of nursing home residents have "substantial pain."

·        Ever wonder what these nursing homes could "sell" their beds for?  According to a report published by Irving Levin Associates, the average price per bed in nursing homes nationally is $43,250.  The report said that the nursing facility market "remains reasonably strong."

P.S.