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KENTUCKIANS
FOR NURSING HOME REFORM
"A non-profit organization dedicated to the welfare of the "Forgotten Kentuckians" NEWSLETTER August 31, 2006
WE’RE BACK! After taking a few months off, we’re back with your newsletter about developments affecting nursing home reform. If you know of anyone who would like to receive this newsletter, just tell them to e-mail us at the address below.
FINANCIAL SETTLEMENT REACHED IN SUIT Beverly Health and Rehabilitation of Frankfort has settled a $20 million judgment against it in Franklin Circuit Court with the estate of Loren Richards for an undisclosed amount of money. Wanda Delaplane of Frankfort, daughter of Mr. Richards, indicated that she and her family were satisfied with the settlement but that the terms would not allow them to reveal the final amount of the award. One of the allegations in the suit was that the nursing home was understaffed because of a company-wide cost-cutting effort. The jury trial lasted for more than seven weeks, and $159 million initially was sought in compensatory and punitive damages by Mr. Richards’ estate.
BACK TO SQUARE ONE After members of the University of Kentucky faculty, staff, and alumni club, Spindletop, put up a fuss over the university’s wanting to put a continuing care community on the Spindletop property, the university has backed off of its plan. A construction company from Florida was ready to go ahead with the project. Initial plans were to build it on the UK Coldstream Research Campus, but that plan was rejected because it was said that the noise from nearby roads was too much. Now, says Jack Blanton, a retired UK vice-president who did much of the work getting the plan underway, the university will move ahead on finding an alternate site.
PSST, DR. TODD UK President Lee Todd was disappointed and upset that the Spindletop site for a university continuing care community did not work out. But if we could whisper in his ear, we would suggest that he take a different approach next time. We would suggest that he put together a package that would include utilization of the proposed facilities for research to find out how best to provide quality long-term care. When the plan was first suggested, Sanders-Brown chief William Markesbery was excited and had his associate, Graham Rowles, draw up a white paper on the project that includes the following:
We think this is a complete package that would befit a research institution like UK, and result in the university better serving all the people of the state – not just people who would live in a continuing care community -- as well as becoming a national leader in research on long-term care.
GO, ERNIE, GO! Gov. Ernie Fletcher, now seemingly relieved of what he called his “ordeal,” might now have time to help Kentuckians in nursing homes. A statement from the governor’s office issued right after the settlement with Attorney General Greg Stumbo, said, “… Governor Fletcher has maintained his focus on …assuring health care for Kentucky families – especially our aging population who depend on Medicaid….” He was referring to the state’s effort to modernize Medicaid in Kentucky. (Actually, that effort is momentarily stalled by hang-ups in Washington.) We have written the governor and offered to give him ideas on other things he can do to help the aging population, like the 23,000 Kentuckians in nursing homes. You should write him, too, and urge him to get on the nursing home reform bandwagon. He has time now and he wants to run for re-election.
PROBLEMS IN PARADISE The nursing home industry is now fighting to keep the increase in its provider tax rate. You may remember that the industry sneaked through an increase to 6 percent in the 2004 Kentucky General Assembly – late on the last day of the session. It was a real coup. This was the tax increase that legislators agreed on because the nursing homes told them it would permit them to give better care to residents. Nursing homes leverage the tax by getting back up to four times the amount they pay in a matching deal with the federal Medicaid program. Nursing homes in 32 other states do the same thing. Gov. Ernie Fletcher recently met with federal Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt to plead the cause of saving the present provider tax rate. The governor likes the nursing home industry because it provided him a pile of money when he ran for governor some three or so years ago. State Health and Family Services Secretary Mark Birdwhistell, who accompanied the governor to the meeting with Secretary Leavitt, reported through his spokesperson that Secretary Leavitt said the present tax rate “might be problematic, but they may be willing to work with states to phase it in,” and then added, “we’re not optimistic.” That’s bad news for a money-hungry industry. And did they use their extra money to improve the quality of care like they promised gullible legislators? You be the judge and tell us. And also tell your legislator.
WARNING. BUREAUCRATS AT WORK The state has launched a full-scale effort to reorganize long-term care, and that is something that bears watching. In fact, stuff like this scares us. So far, it has just been organizational meetings. Dozens of bureaucrats and most of the organizations connected long-term care are engaged in this effort – including Kentuckians For Nursing Home Reform. We have representatives on all three of the effort’s subcommittees. Our job is to watch out for quality of care being compromised even further. There also has been a suspicion that once again the state would start kicking people out of nursing homes. But the state worker who heads this effort was consoling when she said, “We are not closing beds (in nursing homes), except state institutions (translated: Oakwood).”
INSPECTING THE INSPECTOR GENERAL We get numerous calls and e-mails with complaints about nursing homes. We always refer the questions to experts like the nursing home ombudsmen or to the state inspector general. What happens to these complaints – especially the very serious ones – when they land on the inspector general’s desk? How quickly does he investigate? A federal study showed that nationally states did not investigate some of the most serious cases within the required timeframe -- 7 percent nationally for complaints alleging immediate jeopardy; and a 27 percent failure rate nationally for investigating complaints alleging actual harm. What about Kentucky? In 2004, the study showed that Kentucky did not fail to investigate any immediate jeopardy complaints in the required two-day timeframe. On complaints alleging actual harm, Kentucky failed 5 percent of the time on a total of 463 such complaints.
WHO ARE THESE GUYS? Wouldn’t you like to know who the people are investigating complaints in nursing homes – the people from the state Office of the Inspector General? The top dog is Robert J. Benvenuti III, the inspector general in the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. He has a big staff in Frankfort and three regional directors. We thought you would like to know who he has in the field, the actual investigators, but for some reason his office will not give us this information. We think you have a right to know who is out there handling nursing home complaints for you. We will continue to try to get this information and pass it on to you.
SHORT STUFF
§ In Washington, the Senate Finance Committee approved an Elder Justice Act that would help improve care in nursing homes and care for the elderly in general. Sen. Jim Bunning is the only member of the Kentucky Congressional delegation co-sponsoring the bill. It’s sad that the rest of the Kentucky delegation in Washington is not aboard on this important bill. Call your Congressman now. And then call Sen. Mitch McConnell. Ask them to become co-sponsors of this bill. More information can be found by going to our web site link. It will be heading for a vote in the Senate soon; and then on to the House for its approval.
§ This from Ellen Kershaw of the Kentucky Alzheimer’s Association: “The Alzheimer's Association CareFinder™ is our new online tool to help people living with Alzheimer's and caregivers make informed decisions when selecting a care provider for home-based or residential care. Visitors can use the tool to choose dementia care options personalized for individual needs and preferences. CareFinder offers ways to recognize good care, communicate effectively with care providers, plan and pay for care, and find local resources. Visit CareFinder at www.alz.org/carefinder.
§ In July, a new law about where sex-offenders can live went into effect in Kentucky. According to a report from the Government Accountability Office, some of them could be living in nursing homes. As of January 2005, the report said, there were five convicted sex-offenders living in nursing homes in Kentucky. A request to Kentucky officials on the current status of sex-offenders living in nursing homes has gone unanswered.
§ Glenn Jennings of Lawrenceburg is the new head of Medicaid for the state. He succeeds Shannon Turner who left big slippers to fill.
§ A new report says that researchers have once again found that the quality of care in non-profit nursing homes is usually better than in the for-profit ones. A similar study was done by the University of Toronto a few years ago with the same results. The new study also said that for-profit nursing homes are superior at keeping costs down (Editor’s note: yeah, by not hiring enough staff!).
§ Somebody wants to buy the ill-fated Lakeside Heights nursing home in Campbell County. It was closed by the state and federal authorities. The potential buyer, George Hagan from Ohio, says he will fix the place up including flat screen television sets in the private rooms. But he also said, “I don’t care how many nice things you buy, it doesn’t matter if you don’t have enough staff.” (Hey, we need this guy in Kentucky badly!)
NEW ON OUR WEB SITE We
have begun including Kathy Gannoe’s excellent newspaper
column on nursing home care on our web site. Ms. Gannoe
is the director of the Nursing Home Ombudsman Agency of
the Bluegrass, and for our money the best nursing home
ombudsman in the nation. You will learn a lot about
nursing homes by going to our web site and checking her
column, “What’s Your Question About Nursing Homes?” Our
web site is at
http://www.KyNursingHomeReform
P.S. A
husband found himself in big trouble when he forgot his
wedding
AND DON’T FORGET…. MORE THAN 23,000 PEOPLE IN NURSING HOMES IN KENTUCKY NEED US. THEY ARE KENTUCKY’S FORGOTTEN PEOPLE.
BERNIE VONDERHEIDE
KENTUCKIANS FOR NURSING HOME REFORM 1530 Nicholasville Road Lexington, KY 40503
Tel: (859) 312-5617
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