Editor’s
Note: The editorial has been updated to correct the number of nursing
homes currently on the list of Special Focus Facilities.
If there is one thing we can all agree on, it’s the absolute imperative of respecting and protecting the elderly.
Whatever
your political persuasion, right, left or in between, this is a basic
human value that should transcend all differences. And it is heartening
to see two U.S. Senators set aside their political differences and
cooperate to end neglect and abuse of the elderly in nursing homes in
Pennsylvania.
In response to the recent PennLive investigation, ”Still Failing the Frail,”
U.S. Sens. Robert P. Casey Jr. and Pat Toomey have decided to work
together to address apparent deficiencies in the oversight of nursing
homes.
The senators have jointly penned
a letter to Seema Verma, administrator of the U.S. Centers for Medicare
and Medicaid Services in Washington, D.C., raising questions about a
federal program tasked with improving persistently failing nursing
homes.
As PennLive reporter Daniel
Simmons-Ritchie documented in “Still Failing the Frail,” some of the
worst nursing homes in Pennsylvania have continued to be plagued with
problems – including chronically low staffing, insect infestations, and
poor care that has harmed residents – despite ownership changes and
promises of tougher oversight by the Wolf administration.
Among
those homes, one is a current member of the federal government’s
“Special Focus Facility” (SFF) program. Nursing homes are selected as
SFF if they consistently provide poor care.
A
total of 85 of the nation’s 15,000 nursing homes have that designation
(including four in Pennsylvania). Those homes are supposed to get extra
scrutiny and can potentially lose their government funding if they don’t
improve.
Toomey and Casey’s letter raises questions
about the effectiveness of that program: many nursing homes have been
on the SFF list for years, without any action being taken against them,
as the federal dough continues to roll in.
“Neglect
and abuse of this nature is altogether unacceptable,” Toomey and Casey
wrote, “and through a robust system of monitoring, oversight, technical
assistance and enforcement, it should be entirely avoidable.”
The
senators are absolutely right. There is no reason nursing homes that do
not properly care for their residents should remain open year after
year, transferred from one shoddy owner to the next, treating our
elderly as pawns in heartless business schemes that focus only on the
bottom line.
In fact, there should be
zero tolerance for negligence or abuse in any facility charged with
caring for some of the most vulnerable people in our community. And
Sens. Toomey and Casey shouldn’t rest until that is indeed the case, and
authorities at all levels are held accountable.
To
reinforce the seriousness of their interest in the issue, the senators
set a deadline of March 27 for the federal agency to respond. That’s a
clear sign they mean business and will not let this matter rest until
they get the information they need.
Once they get their answers, the next step
will be for these senators to move with all due haste to end the
apparent negligence that threaten the very lives of the people we have a
duty to protect.
While solving many of
the problems identified in the PennLive’s series rests with the Wolf
Administration and the General Assembly, Casey and Toomey should be
applauded for stepping up to help at the federal level in a show of
bipartisan cooperation.
Working
together, Senators Casey and Toomey must keep the pressure on those at
the federal level who can help strengthen oversight of nursing homes, as
they have vowed to do in their letter.
Full Article & Source:
Sens. Toomey and Casey working together to protect the elderly | Editorial
