How Sen. Chuck Grassley is working to protect our nation's elderly

There are more than half a million Iowans age 65 and older, including my wife and me. That’s about 16 percent of the total population in Iowa. Many older Iowans live in assisted care facilities, nursing homes or other kinds of group living arrangements. It’s critical that these care facilities and staff not only follow the law, but provide the type of care they would want their own family members to receive.

The Des Moines Register recently published reports revealing a disturbing lack of professional and compassionate care for elderly residents in some of Iowa’s nursing homes. Particularly heartbreaking is the case of one nursing home resident who passed away seemingly due to lapses in care at the facility. This type of situation should never happen and is preventable.

In light of these reports, I’ve asked the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for more information into what happened and what steps will be taken moving forward to stop it from happening to anyone else. This is the most recent case out of many that I’ve contacted CMS about regarding abuse and neglect at nursing homes.

Last fall, I pressed CMS for answers on why it failed to ensure that nursing home abuse and neglect cases are reported to law enforcement, as required, as well as its lack of urgency in responding to an early alert from the agency watchdog on the problem. Three of 134 incidents of abuse and neglect in 33 states identified by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General were in Iowa.

Reports also surfaced last year of nursing home workers in at least 18 different facilities taking unauthorized and humiliating photos of elderly residents and posting them on social media websites, such as Snapchat. Six of these incidents occurred in Iowa. In my capacity as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I called on Snapchat and other social media companies to look into this problem and do more to stop it. Snapchat developed better tools to report abuse in the months that followed. I also sought answers from HHS, leading the agency’s inspector general to alert 50 State Medicaid Fraud Control Units to be on high alert of the problem and investigate all allegations of abuse. Following my call to action, federal regulators issued a detailed memo spelling out social media exploitation as a prohibited form of abuse.

Reporting incidents and increasing transparency are necessary because reporting is key to enforcement, and enforcement is key to prevention. Nursing homes in Iowa and throughout the country need to be sure they’re doing everything possible to prevent exploitation, abuse and neglect of their elderly residents. If they fail, they must face severe consequences.

Some nursing homes within the Veterans Affairs (VA) system are also impacted by neglect and abuse of older Americans. Last year, stories published by USA Today and The Boston Globe revealed that the VA collected data showing very poor quality at some nursing homes throughout the country, but didn’t release the information to the public. This prevents families of elderly veterans from making the best decisions possible when exploring living and care options for their loved ones. In response to these reports, I cosponsored a bipartisan amendment, which passed in the U.S. Senate, that requires the VA to release detailed information about the quality of its 133 nursing homes nationwide, including its facility in Des Moines. This increases transparency, promotes higher quality care for elderly veterans and helps families make informed decisions.

Congress has a pivotal role to play in ensuring the protection of seniors. In my capacity as Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, I introduced the Elder Abuse Prevention and Prosecution Act, legislation that was signed into law by President Trump last year. The law expands data collection, so we can learn more about the extent to which senior citizens are being exploited or abused, and it calls for the appointment of elder justice coordinators at federal agencies to better prevent and respond to these crimes. It also increases training for federal investigators and prosecutors and requires at least one prosecutor in each federal judicial district to be tasked with handling cases of elder abuse.

Another significant development in 2017 was that the Northern District of Iowa was chosen by the U.S. Department of Justice as one of 10 jurisdictions to create an Elder Justice Task Force. The multi-agency unit’s mission is to assist in identifying and prosecuting crimes targeting older citizens, including neglect, abuse and other instances of wrongdoing in long-term care facilities. Since its creation, the task force has appointed elder justice coordinators in each district, as well as a coordinator for both the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission. This has led to increased transparency and prosecutions of those committing crimes against elderly Americans. Along with continued congressional oversight of nursing homes and executive branch officials tasked with implementing the law, this important task force will help protect seniors and allow them to live with dignity in their golden years.

The health and well-being of seniors has always been an issue I’ve cared about. I’ll continue to work to improve the quality of life for older Americans in Iowa and throughout the nation as long as I serve as Iowa’s senior senator.

Chuck Grassley of New Hartford has represented Iowa in the United States Senate since 1980.

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How Sen. Chuck Grassley is working to protect our nation's elderly