California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR) Long Term Care Justice Advocacy

Time 2020-10-17 02:03:44

Web Name: California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR) Long Term Care Justice Advocacy

WebSite: http://www.canhr.org

ID:84495

Keywords:

Nursing,Home,Reform,BoardandCare,RCFE,nursinghome,elderabuse,nursinghomeabuse,Ca

Description:

CANHR's COVID-19 Coronavirus News Resources  In an effort to keep you all better informed, we have created a website, https://canhrnews.com/ specifically for COVID-19 information, news and resources related to Long Term Care. For the duration of this crisis, we are posting frequent updates there. There’s a big election coming up in November. If you live in an assisted living or nursing facility, you should be aware that you do not lose your right to vote just because you move into long-term care. However, you might face a number of practical barriers to exercising your right to vote, and many of these barriers will be exacerbated in the context of COVID-19. CLICK HERE for guidance for residents planning to exercise their right to vote this November. (posted October 2, 2020) CANHR Fights California Department of Public Health Plan to Transform Nursing Home Inspectors into Advisors to Operators On October 5, CANHR wrote the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) urging it to withdraw its deceptively named nursing home oversight plan – Quality and Safety State SNF Survey Model – that would divert its inspector workforce by requiring inspectors to conduct collaborative monitoring visits at skilled nursing facilities. CANHR’s letter also urges CDPH to rescind a new duty statement for nursing home inspectors that requires inspectors to spend 30 percent of their time advising and assisting nursing home operators on regulatory matters. The highly controversial duty statement is the subject of an Unfair Practice Charge filed on August 28 by SEIU Local 1000, the union representing RN inspectors, against CDPH. (posted October 15, 2020) Office of Inspector General Reports States Are Still Not Investigating Nursing Home Complaints in a Timely Manner The latest in a long line of investigations on failed oversight of nursing homes found that many states are consistently failing to meet federal performance standards for investigating high priority complaints. The findings are detailed in a September 2020 report by the federal HHS Office of Inspector General: States Continued to Fall Short in Meeting Required Timeframes for Investigating Nursing Home Complaints: 2016-2018. (posted October 15, 2020) KPBS Reviews Abuse and Big Profits in El Cajon Nursing Home A recent two-part series from KPBS examined abuse, poor care, and big profits at Avocado Post Acute, a nursing home in El Cajon. The first story focused on an alleged sexual assault perpetrated by a certified nursing assistant (CNA) against a resident. The resident reported the incident to multiple staff members within hours after it happened but the facility management did not respond timely or appropriately. The CNA accused of the assault was initially permitted to return to work and may have committed sexual misconduct at different nursing homes before and after the alleged incident at Avocado Post Acute. The second story reported that Avocado has a very poor track record for regulatory compliance and has significantly understaffed its facility, causing harm to residents while reaping big profits for the owners. For the alleged sexual assault and failure to appropriately report the allegations to the authorities, Avocado Post Acute received two minor federal deficiencies deemed "no harm." No state citation was issued despite a law making the failure to report alleged abuse within 24 hours an automatic Class B citation. (posted October 13, 2020) Governor Newsom Vetoes CANHR Co-sponsored Bill Requiring Skilled Nursing Facilities to Keep Residents Safe During Power Outages On September 25, Governor Newsom vetoed SB 1207, a critically important bill by Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson that would have required skilled nursing facilities to have an alternative source of power to protect resident health and safety and maintain safe temperatures for at least 96 hours during any type of power outage. Senator Jackson’s bill – The Nursing Home Resident Safety Act – had near unanimous, bipartisan support in the Legislature and was a priority measure for the Senate Wildfire Working Group. SB 1207 was co-sponsored by CANHR and Long Term Care Ombudsman Services of San Luis Obispo County and supported by many advocacy, human service and governmental organizations. Read CANHR’s September 28, 2020 press release on the veto (posted September 28, 2020) White House Commission Urges Feds for More Resources (But Not Enforcement) in Nursing Homes The White House's Coronavirus Commission on Safety and Quality in Nursing Homes released an extensive report reviewing lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and making recommendations to improve safety in nursing homes related to infection control. The report sets forth dozens of potential "action steps" for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and other federal and state agencies to take to foster better infection control involving:- COVID-19 testing;- providing PPE and training staff to use it;- updating resident visitation and cohorting policies to be more sensitive to the balance between safety and quality of life; and- supporting staff/caregivers.Essentially, the report calls for more funding and guidance from the government to nursing homes. The report is notably missing recommendations regarding better enforcement of nursing home standards of care and are meant to reduce the spread of infection and enhance resident well-being. Commission member Eric Carlson of Justice in Aging refused to endorse the report, instead writing a three-page rebuke of the report's failures. Eric writes "[the report] recommends dozens of obligations for the federal government, but does little to set higher standards for nursing homes, or to ensure nursing home accountability." The report sets up CMS to act as financial supporter, consultant, and educator to nursing homes rather than its legal role as an enforcement agency charged with consumer protection. A similar effort to transform regulators from enforcers to job coaches has taken root in California and threatens to further degrade regulatory compliance. (posted September 28, 2020) A new study from Health Affairs shows that nursing homes with unionized staff members have had 30% fewer resident deaths from COVID-19 than facilities without unions. In addition, the unionized nursing homes had a 42% smaller COVID infection rate than homes without unions. The study reviewed COVID cases in New York nursing homes from March through May 2020. The authors of the study pointed out that unionized nursing homes benefited from having greater access to PPE, such as N95 masks and face shields, and generally provide better care historically than nursing homes without unions. In addition to the lack of union presence, the study found that facilities fared worse on COVID-19 when they were part of a nursing home chain chain or had poor CNA staffing. (posted September 14, 2020) Please help support SB 1207 (Jackson) by urging Governor Newsom to sign it. This critical bill codifies federal standards that require skilled nursing facilities to have an alternative source of power to protect resident health and safety and maintain safe temperatures for 96 hours during any type of power outage. CANHR and Long Term Care Ombudsman Services of San Luis Obispo County are co-sponsoring SB 1207. Click to Read More (posted September 9, 2020) On August 25, the California Department of Public Health (DPH) issued All Facilities Letter 20-22.4 outlining some significant changes to the State’s ever-evolving guidance relating to visiting nursing homes and other health facilities during the COVID pandemic. Click to Read More (posted September 3, 2020) New Research: Nursing Homes Inflate CMS "Quality Measures" It should surprise nobody to hear that new research finds nursing homes inaccurately report the conditions of their residents when submitting "quality measure" data to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The self-reported data is used as one of three major components to a facility's federal 5-star rating. For years, nursing home resident advocates have argued that any ratings system should not rely on unaudited, self-reported data from the nursing homes themselves because they have an incentive to report inflated data. In the new research, quality measure data was compared to Medicare claims data for nursing home residents who were hospitalized. The comparisons demonstrated that nursing homes substantially underreport the number of residents who develop pressure sores while in the facility. The data also showed inaccurate reporting regarding urinary tract infections (UTIs) and resident falls. (posted August 31, 2020) If you would like to invite CANHR to a support group meeting, resource fair, or other event in your community, please complete a speaker request form online. Note: Due to limited number of staff, CANHR may not be able to accommodate all requests outside of the Bay Area and Greater Los Angeles Area. 650 Harrison Street, 2nd Floor San Francisco, CA 94107 (415) 974-5171 Organization and presentation of all information on this site 2008 by CANHR

TAGS:Nursing Home Reform BoardandCare RCFE nursinghome elderabuse nursinghomeabuse Ca

<<< Thank you for your visit >>>

Since 1983, California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform has been fighting for the rights of long-term care residents and all elders in California. Besides fighting elder abuse. CANHR's mission is to educate and support long term health care advocates and consumers regarding the rights and remedies under the law, and to create a united voice for long term care reform and humane alternatives to institutionalization. We provide information about assisted living (board and care), nursing homes, Medi-Cal, and other elder issues.

Hot Websites