FL Under the Looking Glass

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Watchdog agency under state scrutiny
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By Diane C. Lade
Staff writer

March 21, 2002

The Long-Term Care Ombudsman Council, created to investigate complaints against nursing homes and assisted living centers, is being examined itself -- an action that advocates fear may cost the statewide group its independence.

The Florida Department of Elder Affairs has assigned an inspector general to review how the 15 district councils handle their inspections, and how the paid staff were interacting with volunteer monitors.

"We are responding to issues of concern, checking to make sure our elders are getting what they need," said department spokeswoman Joan Spainhower.

There have been complaints about mishandled inspections and volunteers who alerted nursing home administrators before making what were supposed to be surprise visits, according to State Rep. Carole Green, R-Fort Myers. She also was concerned about last month's sudden and unexplained resignation of State Ombudsman Steven Rachin, a Tallahassee lawyer who had been with the program since 1998.

Her solution: Make the state ombudsman position directly accountable to Elder Affairs Secretary Terry White and require any council action, including inspections, to get departmental approval. The council now is housed in and receives its funds through Elder Affairs but operates independently, with the state ombudsman, the program's overseer, hired and fired by a statewide advisory group.

"We're convinced that if we don't get things back on track, it could eventually mean the demise of the program," said Green, chairwoman of the House Elder and Long-term Care Committee. She tucked the idea into HB703, a compilation of several long-term-care proposals that passed the House this week and is now in the Senate.

But volunteers and advocates say making the council beholden to a state agency undermines the reason the ombudsman system was created by federal law years ago -- to offer seniors and their families an unbiased protector.

"People have no faith in government agencies. They look to us as a court of last resort," said Audrey Bennett, a volunteer on Broward's council for 12 years.

"You might as well close up shop if the council can't be vocal about what they think is wrong," agreed Barbara Hengstebeck, who served as the state ombudsman from 1989 to 1994.

Hengstebeck, who now heads the Coalition to Protect America's Elders that lobbies for stricter nursing home controls, said the current complaints just cap a long history of power struggles between the council and whatever state agency houses it. During Hengstebeck's tenure, the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, the Governor's Office and DOEA each at one point was the funnel for the council's $1.5 million in state and federal funds. "[The council] always wanted autonomy and the agencies always wanted control," she said.

Staff Writer Diane Lade can be reached at 954-356-4834 or dlade@sun-sentinel.com.


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