Why Is Nursing Home Abuse So Prevalent?
Nursing home abuse is a growing concern. Although there are measures in place that attempt to prevent abuse, many elderly citizens who reside in nursing homes and assisted living facilities are vulnerable to beating, slapping, pushing, and sexual abuse.
Part of the reason that the problem exists is that there are some major gaps in the system.
For example, records on nurse's aides are kept in state registries. However, many of the individual state registries don't include any information about nurse's aides who have committed offenses in another state.
In addition, uncertified or unlicensed personnel such as maintenance workers and laundry aides aren't listed with a certification agency, a licensing body, or a state registry. Since abusive history can remain undetected, unless a person has a criminal record, he or she will be able to get a job at a nursing home.
In testimony given before the U.S. Senate's Special Committee on Aging on March 4, 2002, the Director of Health Care, Leslie G. Aronovitz, said that many shortcomings exist in the efforts to protect nursing home residents from abuse. One shortcoming is that a number of the states that were visited by the CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) often did not notify authorities immediately after an abuse allegation.
It also appeared that the states made limited efforts to keep consumers informed about how to file a nursing home complaint. The CMS found that government agency pages in phone books in a number of major cities that it visited did not have any explicitly designated phone numbers that people could call to file a nursing home complaint within those states.
A number of local police departments that were interviewed by the CMS did not have any knowledge of investigations that were performed by the state survey agencies in their communities. So, by the time the police were called to investigate abusive situations in the nursing homes other investigations had begun. This hampered their efforts to collect evidence.
The Medicaid Fraud Control Units (MFCU) are the law enforcement agencies that have the explicit responsibility of investigating any allegations of abuse or patient neglect in nursing homes. Since the referral policies vary from one state survey agency to the next, it was not unusual for the MFCUs not to be notified in a timely manner.
In testimony before the Senate it was suggested that the "early involvement of the state MFCU can be productive in obtaining criminal convictions."
Part of the reason that the problem exists is that there are some major gaps in the system.
For example, records on nurse's aides are kept in state registries. However, many of the individual state registries don't include any information about nurse's aides who have committed offenses in another state.
In addition, uncertified or unlicensed personnel such as maintenance workers and laundry aides aren't listed with a certification agency, a licensing body, or a state registry. Since abusive history can remain undetected, unless a person has a criminal record, he or she will be able to get a job at a nursing home.
In testimony given before the U.S. Senate's Special Committee on Aging on March 4, 2002, the Director of Health Care, Leslie G. Aronovitz, said that many shortcomings exist in the efforts to protect nursing home residents from abuse. One shortcoming is that a number of the states that were visited by the CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) often did not notify authorities immediately after an abuse allegation.
It also appeared that the states made limited efforts to keep consumers informed about how to file a nursing home complaint. The CMS found that government agency pages in phone books in a number of major cities that it visited did not have any explicitly designated phone numbers that people could call to file a nursing home complaint within those states.
A number of local police departments that were interviewed by the CMS did not have any knowledge of investigations that were performed by the state survey agencies in their communities. So, by the time the police were called to investigate abusive situations in the nursing homes other investigations had begun. This hampered their efforts to collect evidence.
The Medicaid Fraud Control Units (MFCU) are the law enforcement agencies that have the explicit responsibility of investigating any allegations of abuse or patient neglect in nursing homes. Since the referral policies vary from one state survey agency to the next, it was not unusual for the MFCUs not to be notified in a timely manner.
In testimony before the Senate it was suggested that the "early involvement of the state MFCU can be productive in obtaining criminal convictions."
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