DesMoinesRegister reported that Mitchell Worchester, the administrator of Tabor Manor Care Center in Fremont County, Iowa is facing sanctions against his licence after failure to correctly respond to and prevent several incidents of sexual assault within his nursing home.  Over the course of three years, a resident in his facility continued to sexually assault other residents.

In June of 2008, the resident touched the breasts and genitals of a female resident.  The incident was reported to the state, however, no further investigation was done.  Two more incidents of sexual assault by the resident occurred before the facility did anything to prevent the assaults.

Only after the resident was again caught inappropriately touching a female resident and then leaving another resident’s room in nothing but his underwear

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One of the most common mental conditions we see with nursing home residents is Alzheimer’s disease.  It can be very difficult for a family to watch a family member slowly slipping away mentally.  This condition can also increase someone’s risk for falls and other injuries.

The government today announced that a new plan is being launched with “the goal of finding effective ways to prevent and treat the devastating effects of dementia by 2025.”  New studies are being conducted to learn to treat and prevent the illness, as well as optimizing care quality and expand support to families.

You can read the entire article online here.
 

Article source: http://feeds.lexblog.com/~r/NursingHomeLawBlog/~3/TRvRkI8FxQ8/

Is there physically enough space at your house? Will your aged relative have their own room? Most old folk are comfortable having their own place and own space, it's therefore significant that they possess their own bedroom at minimum. Where are they going to live, in their home or in yours? Most old folk go to live with their adult kids so there are a considerable number of questions about this. Once you have gone thru this process and have your list cut down to 3 or four decisions, follow the following five guidelines to make the method as all-embracing as practical. You may know if the facility will be a tight fit in short time period, just by trusting your senses. Take A Formalised Tour Make a psychological note of what you see. Does the home feel right, smell good, and is it clean? Two. Ask your rep for the latest Medicare survey report All Medicare and Medicaid certificated facilities go thru a yearly inspection. These inspections are unannounced and stay on for anywhere from three to five days.

These people include folks who are getting over wounds, surgeries and other circumstances where they just need a bit of help to get back on their feet. These folk have a tendency to live in the rehabilitation wings of nursing houses. Nursing houses aren't inexpensive. Govt. programs like Medicare and Medicaid help with care home costs. Relying on the side of the country, care home costs can range anywhere from $1,000 each month to as high as $10,000 a month and higher.

Some do only if you first entered the facility as a personal pay customer. If you haven't any assets and qualify for Medicaid care, as a really lower income senior, you may receive long term care paid for by the government’s Medicaid insurance at a care home which accepts Medicaid as payment. Some do not accept Medicaid patients. To effectively plan for senior care costs, research the price of care in each state, comparing senior home care to retirement home costs.

Sarah Mars is a Public Affairs Specialist at the Agency For Healthcare Research and Quality.  She was nice enough to send me the below information to share. 

When patients become more actively involved in their own health, there’s a much stronger likelihood their health outcomes will be better.

That’s why “Questions are the Answer,” a new public education initiative from the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), encourages patients to have more effective two-way communication with their doctors and other clinicians.

“Questions are the Answer” features a website — www.ahrq.gov/questions — where you will find these free educational tools to use with your patients:

· A 7-minute video featuring real-life patients and clinicians who give firsthand accounts on the importance of asking questions and sharing

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As reported in an article from the HuffPost by Carole Herman, neglect and abuse are rampant in nursing homes. These reoccurring issues can be attributed, in part, to the lack of government standards or regulations.  As the article explained, the state agencies that are charged with overseeing the nursing homes fail to fix problems including the epidemic of short-staffing.  These overlooked issues diminish the quality of care but cut the facility’s costs and increase their profits. 

A Consumer Report in September of 2006 found that while nursing homes are receiving increased monies from tax dollars, their issues are still not being corrected. The increase in tax money is instead being used to increase profits, which increases their investors’ returns, and increases the money available for political contributions.

It is

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and state oversight of nursing houses. All nursing houses must meet certain needs ,eg having a nurse on staff 24-hours a day, 7 days per week so as to keep their doors open and have to meet all kinds of wants to qualify for Medicaid, Medicare and other executive funding programs. Nursing houses are sometimes for 2 classes of people. The 1st class are the people who want help in their day-to-day living activities. If this is not a revolution, what's? The Lifeline is a Panic Button pendant that may be worn by an individual when an emergency happens, they can press the button on the pendant, and straight away, Philips will send emergency doctors home and call the elected person. The service costs $50 a month. Even better, they have got an AutoAlert system that may note falls by itself and call the doctor is in. What do you do in a case where you fear that gramps is maybe too unwell to get in contact with you? What if an old person suffers a stroke and can’t click a button? The choice is a system that costs in the region of $1000 a month.

An aged home care company called GrandCare installs custom sensors everywhere your mother and father are probably going to go in the home. If your aged relative is considered as high level care requirements the call will be taken out of your hands, it could be that your relative won't be allowed to live with you as it is considered as medically dangerous. If the assessment returns with a low level of care requirements there are further issues. Could you manage caring for an aged person twenty-four / seven? Most aged folks go to live with their adult kids so there are a bunch of questions about this. This is somewhere they can spend a little time or retreat to where their right to privacy is guaranteed. Is there physically sufficient room at your house? Will your aged relative have their own room? Most old folks are accustomed to having their own place and own space, it's therefore crucial that they have got their own bedroom at minimum. You may also have to consider the effect on others in your house, how do they feel about an old relative contesting with them for your time.

A Monterey County Weekly article on the topic of senior financial exploitation explained yet another factor in prevention efforts–ensuring proper legal documents are in place well before times of incapacity. This is one of the paramount goals of elder law estate planning. The legal documents, such as a Power of Attorney and Health Care proxy, are crucial in ensuring that trusted others can act on the

Article source: http://rss.justia.com/~r/NewYorkElderLawAttorneyBlogCom/~3/896ckPxrZiE/senior-financial-exploitation.html

The N.Y. Times reported the horrible practice of debt collection agencies interrogating and intimidating emergency room visitors and others recovering at the hospital.  “This and other aggressive tactics by one of the nation’s largest collectors of medical debts, Accretive Health, were revealed by the Minnesota attorney general, raising concerns that such practices have become common at hospitals across the country.”

The harsh tactics include ”embedding” debt collectors as employees in emergency rooms and demanding that patients pay before receiving treatment, and discouraging them from seeking emergency care at all.  These methods were disclosed in hundreds of company documents released by the attorney general.  The company’s workers had access to health information in violation of federal privacy laws.  Accretive last year reported $29.2 million in profit, up 130 percent from a year

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The Duluth News Tribune reported that two nursing home employees were fired after falsifying medical records.  Two nurses at Cook Nursing Home failed to conduct blood sugar tests on seven residents, and then filed reports on insulin levels with made-up numbers, according to Minnesota Department of Health documents. Insulin was then withheld or given to residents based on the falsified numbers.  No criminal charges were filed yet.

This type of willful falsification typically is a result of inadequate staffing.  Not enough staff to get everything done so they take shortcuts.  A full investigation into the staffing data at the facility is necessary.

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