U.S. Senate debates nursing home arbitration requirements

Wendi Lewis — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 18:25:34 GMT

A special joint meeting of the U.S. Senate Judiciary and U.S. Aging Committee met this morning to discuss the issue of mandatory arbitration. The specific issue at hand was S. 2838, the Fairness in Nursing Home Arbitration Act. Sponsored by Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., and Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., chairman of the Senate Aging Committee, the bill strives to eliminate the practice by nursing homes of requiring residents and/or their families sign arbitration agreements as a condition of admission to the facility.

This practice, Sen. Martinez said, takes advantage of the nation's most vulnerable citizens, many of whom do not realize that by signing an arbitration agreement they are giving away their future rights to go to court.

Senators Martinez and Kohl pointed out that when patients and their families are at the point of entering a nursing home facility, the patient is often in need of immediate care. They are put in the position of "take it or leave it" when it comes to signing the agreement. In many cases, there are no alternative facilities nearby, and families feel forced to comply, they said.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, spoke in opposition of the bill, saying that preventing nursing homes from using arbitration agreements will lead to higher long term liability costs for facility owners, which will translate to higher costs for patients, or reduction in quality of care. He feels problems can be effectively addressed by the nursing home industry.

Sen. Martinez disagrees, saying arbitration "remov[es] the one incentive the industry has to self-regulate."

While today's hearing specifically dealt with arbitration as it refers to nursing home operation, it has the potential for wider impact.

A webcast of the hearing is available at the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging web site.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wendi Lewis

Alabama among worst in nursing home deficiency reporting

Wendi Lewis — Fri, 16 May 2008 15:35:47 GMT

A review of the nation's nursing home inspection reports by the Congressional Government Accountability Office (GAO) lists Alabama among nine states with the worst records of nursing home inspection accuracy, saying inspectors missed serious problems in more than 25 percent of all inspections from 2002-2007. The report said most states still fared dismally, missing at least one serious deficiency in 15 percent of all inspections.

Results of the report were published in the New York Times May 15, which says the study “reveals a widespread ‘understatement of deficiencies’ including malnutrition, severe bedsores, overuse of prescription medications, and nursing home resident abuse.” It goes on to say that “there are 16,400 nursing homes with more than 1.5 million residents nationwide. Of these, about one-fifth are cited for serious deficiencies each year.”

The study was requested by Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis., Chairman, Senate Special Committee on Aging). They have introduced a bill to upgrade nursing home care and increase penalties for federal standards violations. Currently, the maximum fine is around $10,000. Hardly a deterrent! They plan to increase fines to $25,000 for a serious deficiency and $100,000 for a deficiency resulting in patient death.

Beasley Allen hears from people every day who are shocked and grieved to find their loved ones have suffered at the hands of the very people they expect to provide expert care and compassion. Certainly, increasing penalties seems like a step in the right direction. As they say, "money talks," and maybe if nursing home facilities feel a pinch in the bottom line as a penalty for endangering residents, they will step up quality of care and monitoring.

Not surprisingly, the American Health Care Association, which is a nursing home trade group, opposes the bill, favoring "less punitive ways to measure and improve the quality of care," according to the Times story.

But David P. Sloane, a spokesperson for the AARP, which lobbies for older Americans, praises the effort, quoted by the Times as saying it is "one of the most significant nursing home reform initiatives" in two decades.

Other states on the "worst reporting" list are Arizona, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina and South Dakota.

Read the full story in the New York Times.

* * *

About the author: Wendi Lewis is a writer employed by Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C. Based in Montgomery, Ala., Beasley Allen is one of the country's leading firms in civil litigation on behalf of claimants.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wendi Lewis

Montgomery Personal Injury Lawyer - Nursing Home & Elder Abuse

U.S. Senate debates nursing home arbitration requirements

Alabama among worst in nursing home deficiency reporting