Senate Hearing March 4, 2002

Senate Special Committee on Aging Hearing                    March 4, 2002
Safeguarding our Seniors: Protecting the Elderly from Physical and Sexual Abuse in Nursing Homes

This hearing included grim testimony by three presenters in panel one who spoke of horrific abuse that had been experienced in a nursing home -  Bruce Love (California), son of a physical abuse victim; Barbara Becker (Indiana), daughter of a physical abuse victim; and Michael Peters, Esquire, counsel for a rape victim in Florida who gave birth without the facility being aware that she was pregnant.  All three talked about the failure in the system to protect residents and to prosecute the perpetrators.  The situation Ms. Becker described involved resident to resident abuse, the other two cases involved abuse by facility staff. 

The second panel included testimony by Leslie Aronovitz, Director, Health Financing and Public Health Issues, GAO about the GAO report released yesterday. The report examined three states - Georgia, Pennsylvania and Illinois and included recommendations that have been supported by both AHCA and AAHSA. Nursing Homes: More Can Be Done to Protect Residents from Abuse. GAO-02-312, March 1. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-02-312

Other panelists included Mark Malcolm, a Coroner in Arkansas. Arkansas has a law requiring all deaths of nursing home residents be reported to the county cornoner regardless of cause. Charles Fuselier, Louisiana, (representing the National Sheriff's Association) shared details about the TRIAD Program in 47 states that addresses crime and the elderly. Henry Blanco, representing the National Association of Adult Protective Services Administration, discussed the limited funding and statutory authority of APS in some states.  Delta Hollloway, RN, spoke on behalf of the American Health Care Association. Testimonies can be found at http://www.senate.gov/~aging/hr78.htm    Contact John Kafka at NCCNHR jkafka@nccnhr.org if you need hard copies.

Kohl, Wisconsin:  Stated he was dismayed that this issue again needed to be raised and talked about the need for the Patient Abuse Protection Act to be passed that would provide for criminal background checks and the need for a national registry.

Wyden, Oregon: Discussed the importance of this issue and said "A country that doesn't get this right is a country that has lost its moral compass."  He stated the need for a federal requirement to report abuse and adequate funds to build the advocacy efforts of friends, relatives and ombudsmen.

Lincoln, Arkansas: Discussed the lack of coordination among agencies and the impact of this on the elderly who have to be afraid of what might happen to them.

Other issues discussed during the hearing included video cameras for prevention of abuse, the need for regulations to be enforced and the need for law enforcement to be involved and responsive.

The GAO recommendations can be found on page 27 of the new report.  They recommend that CMS:

-         Ensure that state survey agencies immediately notify local law enforcement agencies or MFCU's when nursing homes report allegations of abuse

-         Accelerate CMS's education campaign on reporting abuse by distributing the new poster and requiring survey agencies to ensure these numbers are prominently listed in telephone directories

-         Systematically asses state policies/practices for complying with the federal requirement to prohibit employment of individuals convicted of abusing nursing home residents and, if necessary, develop more specific guidance to ensure compliance

-         Clarify the definition of abuse and ensure that states apply definition consistently and appropriately

-         Shorten the state survey agencies' time frames for determining whether to include findings of abuse in nurse aide registry files

On a related note, the Center recently looked into background check legislation and found that 39 states (including DC) currently have legislation that requires criminal background checks of individuals who work in nursing homes. Four states currently have bills pending that would require such checks.