|
<home>
NURSING HOME REFORM NEWSLETTER
Sept. 15, 2005
THE STAFFING ‘SUMMIT’
A group of Kentuckians for nursing home reform went to Frankfort about
two weeks ago and met with legislators Jimmie Lee and Tom Burch. Sen.
Ernesto Scorsone, D-Lexington, a great supporter of nursing home reform,
also sat through the entire two-hour meeting. The subject was
legislation to improve the number of front-line staffers in nursing
homes. This was the long-awaited "summit" meeting that Rep. Lee,
D-Elizabethtown, had called for in a legislative meeting last winter. Of
course, Rep. Burch, D-Louisville, is chairman of the health and welfare
committee where staffing legislation will begin what is hoped to be a
successful march to the governor’s desk for signing next year. But at
the September meeting advocates got their turn to convince the lawmakers
that we need some kind of action to improve the care of people in
nursing homes. The testimony by advocates was strong, and we noted that
the lawmakers listened closely. We think they agree that action is
needed. We showed them the way and they listened. The members of
Kentuckians For Nursing Home Reform who attended the meeting were
extremely persuasive. It showed on the legislators faces. Now, as they
say, "the ball is in their court" to get busy and support our bill. You
can read the bill we had introduced in the 2005 session by going to
http://www.lrc.ky.gov/record/05rs/HB208/bill.doc We hope to make
some improvements in it for the 2006 session.
WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER GUYS?
The September meeting was called a "summit" because there are other
stakeholders in this issue who needed to be heard, too. The legislators
also met with the nursing home ombudsmen and the lobbyists for the
nursing home industry. Now they plan to meet with members of the Cabinet
for Health and Family Services. Just Tom Burch showed up for the meeting
with the ombudsmen and no one reported what was discussed. And you will
never hear from the industry on what they told lawmakers except you can
bet that they are against quality staffing standards for nursing homes.
The main reason is that it costs nursing homes money and that digs into
their big profits if they hire more people. The state health cabinet
people were against the legislation we proposed in the last session.
Their reasons for being against it, however, were lame – things like it
would cost the cabinet too much to enforce. One cabinet official even
said that Kentucky ranked ahead of other states in the number of hours
front-line caregivers worked. That’s a joke, of course. The numbers they
quote are from the industry and no one even checks them. We have sent
Rep. Burch and Rep. Lee our retorts to the cabinet criticism. It
surprises us that a cabinet run by a really good person like Dr. Jim
Holsinger would not have more pity on 30,000 Kentuckians who are
suffering under the poor care they get in nursing homes across the
state. Maybe the cabinet will change its tune.
REPUBLICANS GET OLD, TOO
We often say that nursing home reform should be a non-partisan issue.
Why? Both Republicans and Democrats get old; and both parties will have
people suffering in nursing homes. So both parties should be equally
interested in nursing home reform. It hasn’t worked that way so far in
Kentucky, and we think we know why. The nursing home industry is a rich
and powerful lobby both in Kentucky and nationally. They contribute
heavily to state legislators for their election campaigns. For example.
The Kentucky Association of Health Care Facilities has a political
action committee (PAC). For the legislative races going back eight years
they contributed $111,400 to legislative candidates. There’s nothing
wrong in this but it does open a lot of doors for the industry
lobbyists. It might stagger you to know that in 2004 $11.8 million was
spent on lobbying in Kentucky. We don’t know what part of that was the
nursing home industry, but you can bet that it was close to the top. We
have also heard that the nursing home industry contributed heavily to
Gov. Ernie Fletcher’s successful election campaign which might explain
why his cabinet appointees are reluctant to oppose the industry.
LOBBYING VS. PUBLIC OPINION
How do you derail the deep pockets of the nursing home industry? Only
public opinion can do that. And that’s YOU! The more you
contact your state legislators, the governor and state officials, the
more your voice will be heard. We need to tell them over and over the
bad things that need correcting in many of the state’s nursing homes. We
need to tell the media what is going on. We especially need to educate
our legislators on the crying need for more frontline caregivers in
nursing homes. Our organization, Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform, is
helping tell this story, but in the end we need YOU.
Hundreds of you have written us offering to help this cause. We will be
calling on you soon to act, to tell the lawmakers what is wrong in
nursing homes and how to fix the problem.
YOUR COMMENTS….
--- "I am extremely concerned with the nursing home care in the state of
Kentucky. I thought that nursing homes were required to have so many
hired staff per resident. I recently found out different. What can we do
to change this? It should be mandatory for residents to have appropriate
staff and care. There is no way that patients of nursing homes get
quality care when there isn’t enough staff per resident." -Patsy Puckett
--- "I have worked as an RN in a local nursing home for just over a year
now. When I saw the legislative recommendation in the past session I was
very scared. We are a good place, but your description of being worked
to death describes our situation well. The minimum required staff by
previously proposed legislation was lower than our numbers. The problem
is that administrative care planners, managers, etc. are counted in the
number, but only do personal care or feeding when state inspectors are
present. This is a staggering issue, and I appreciate your work."
-A C.N.A. in Nicholasville
46 DAYS
WHAT WE KNOW: It’s been 46 days since state long-term care
ombudsman John Sammons retired. Still, no one appointed to fill the
vacant position as of today. Dr. Jim Holsinger, who heads the Cabinet
for Health and Family Services where the position is located, sent word
to us through his communications director Vikki Franklin that "there’s
nothing to report yet on the long-term care ombudsman position." WHAT
WE THINK: Dr. Holsinger wants to hire Bluegrass district ombudsman
Kathy Gannoe for this position. At first he wanted to make it a
political appointment. But because of the flap in Frankfort with the
governor over hiring, he has paused in doing it as a political
appointment and is looking how he can do it and keep it a merit job. As
advocates for nursing home reform, we also played a part in publicly
objecting to a political appointment.
WHAT WE THINK II: Ms. Gannoe would be an excellent person for the
job, but only if the position is kept out of politics.
‘THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS’
It scares us a little bit on what state officials might do to people in
nursing homes as they try to re-do the state Medicaid program. They say
that they want to make the care that Medicaid recipients get better but
at the same time save money. They have quite a challenge because the
state Medicaid deficit is more than $200 million. That comes to $675
million when you throw in the federal matching money. Last week one of
those Washington think-tank people – Judith Solomon of the Center on
Budget and Policy Priorities -- came to Frankfort, and we asked her what
she thought of the proposals made so far by state bureaucrats for
changing Medicaid. The proposals are contained in what is called a
concept paper. Ms. Solomon said there are not enough details in the
concept paper prepared by the state for her to say, and then she added,
"The devil is in the details." And right she is. We still do not know
what the state has up its sleeve. That scares us because the last time
the state tried to save money on Medicaid, it began kicking people out
of nursing homes. Nothing like that is being discussed now we think, but
the committee considering what to do has no one from the nursing home
advocate sector on it. State Medicaid director Shannon Turner did say
that they are discussing the use of Medicaid money to keep people in
their homes, instead of going to nursing homes. One committee member,
Laurel True – a former state official and now a volunteer for AARP – has
been pushing this for several years. We have no problem with Mr. True’s
idea as long as the state doesn’t take money the nursing homes need to
provide quality care. Mr. True, for example, is not big on quality
staffing standards for nursing homes and AARP hasn’t done much to help
beyond giving it lip service. So keep a careful eye out. A Kentucky
proposal may be sent up to the bureaucrats in the nation’s capitol
soon….. By the way, someone also asked Ms. Solomon if she knows of any
states that have saved money by reorganizing their Medicaid program like
Kentucky is trying to do. Her answer: "No." Which led us to ask Mark
Birdwhistell, undersecretary for the Cabinet for Health and Family
Services, if he had a number in mind on how much money the work he is
doing to reorganize Medicaid would save. Mr. Birdwhistell wouldn’t say.
We think it will be a drop in the bucket and that the next legislature
will have to legalize casino gambling in Kentucky to pay most of the
Medicaid bill which gets bigger every day.
BEDS FOR SALE
Nursing homes in Kentucky have gotten state okay to trade nursing homes
beds. Say you own a nursing home and cannot fill all your beds. Well now
you can just sell those beds to a nursing home in another county. The
Courier-Journal had a good story on this by Pat Howington which you can
find on our web site:
http://www.KyNursingHomeReform.org
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
"The only way to save big money is to make big changes. What's most
needed are a major redesign of health care financing generally and
dramatically new approaches to the exploding need for long-term care
that Medicaid now finances. Unfortunately, public policy-makers haven't
been willing to take such fundamental steps." - from a July 10 editorial
in The Courier-Journal of Louisville.
MR. INSPECTOR GENERAL, ARE YOU THERE?
We get calls all the time from Kentuckians about problems in nursing
homes. We usually refer them to their district ombudsman or to the state
inspector general. He is the guy who is in charge of enforcing
regulations in nursing homes. His name is Robert Benvenutti III. We have
heard that it is hard to reach him. It is. So what do you do if you have
a problem? Call (502) 564-2888 and punch in Extension 3362. That will
get you a recording, or course, from a lady who says she will call you
back. We tested it. We called and said we had a nursing home problem and
gave our telephone number. In less than three hours she called us back.
We think that is pretty good response. Now what would happen to our
problem once we explained it to the lady, well that’s for another test.
SHORT STUFF
* Thanks to the advocate who tipped us that Tanbark Nursing Home in
Lexington has been sold. It’s true. In fact, EPI Corporation of
Louisville, which owned Tanbark, has sold 21 skilled nursing facilities
and its four rehab hospitals to United Rehab LLC, a company affiliated
with the Paul Reichmann family of Toronto. John Snyder of Louisville was
the CEO of EPI and very active in nursing home politics. We are tardy in
reporting this, but will have more on it later. OUR COMMENT: We hope
that this does not mean Mr. Snyder will no longer be around in state
nursing home circles. We enjoyed working with him.….
* Another late report: Stock shares of the Louisville-based nursing home
corporation, Kindred Healthcare, gained 32 percent in the first half of
this year, according to The Courier-Journal. OUR COMMENT: Yep, those
poor old nursing homes are just struggling to meet expenses….
* Northern Kentucky will set up a one-stop center for getting long-term
care information, thanks to a federal grant of $800,000….
* A man fell out of the King’s Daughters Nursing Home in Louisville
second-floor window. He later died. His widow alleges it is the nursing
home’s fault. The state recommended a $5,000 fine for the nursing home….
* A fellow in Bowling Green who faces multiple charges including rape
and sodomy this summer held police at bay outside of Britthaven Nursing
Home where his wife worked. She also is charged with sodomy and
complicity to rape. Latest report: they are both in jail. OUR COMMENT:
We thought nursing homes were supposed to check the backgrounds of
employees….
* The state has finally realized that the baby boomers are getting old
and have launched a two-year study of how ready we are to provide them
with elder services. UK and the area development districts will also
participate in the study.
THE END…. BUT PLEASE DON’T FORGET….
MORE THAN 30,000 PEOPLE IN NURSING HOMES IN
KENTUCKY NEED US. THEY ARE KENTUCKY’S FORGOTTEN PEOPLE.
Bernie Vonderheide
Kentuckians For Nursing Home Reform
KyNursingHomeReform@yahoo.com
Tel: (859) 312-5617
P.S.
The Perks of Being 60+
1. Kidnappers are not very interested in you.
2. In a hostage situation you are likely to be released first.
3. No one expects you to run -- anywhere.
4. People call at 9 p.m. and ask, "Did I wake you?"
5. People no longer view you as a hypochondriac.
6. There is nothing left to learn the hard way.
7. Things you buy now won't wear out.
8. You can eat dinner at 4 p.m.
9. You enjoy hearing about other people's operations.
10. You get into heated arguments about pension plans.
11. You have a party and the neighbors don't even realize it.
12. You no longer think of speed limits as a challenge.
13. You quit trying to hold your stomach in, no matter who walks into
the room.
14. You sing along with elevator music.
15. Your eyes won't get much worse.
16. Your investment in health insurance is finally beginning to pay off.
17. Your joints are more accurate meteorologists than the National
Weather Service.
18. Your secrets are safe with your friends, because they can't remember
them either.
19. Your supply of brain cells is finally down to manageable size.
20. You can't remember who sent you this list.
(Yes, I can….From good friend Bob Rowan, Louisville)
|
