nursing homes

GOVERNOR SIGNS CONTENTIOUS NURSING HOME LICENSING BILL THAT SPLINTERED ADVOCATES

By Jocelyn Wiener, CalMatters

CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters

Photo CC by ND via Bing

September 28, 2022 (Sacramento) - A controversial bill aimed at fixing aspects of California’s broken nursing home licensing system was signed Tuesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom, who faced dueling pressure from advocates who typically are aligned.


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LAWMAKERS WEAKEN CALIFORNIA'S NURSING HOMES BILL; SPONSORS YANK THEIR SUPPORT

By Jocelyn Wiener, CalMatters

CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters

June 22, 2022 (Sacramento) - A group of advocates that has long fought to reform the state’s troubled nursing home licensing system is now attempting to kill legislation it sponsored, calling the amended bill “a step backwards.”


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BILL ENDING ‘ZOMBIE LICENSES’ FOR NURSING HOMES MOVES FORWARD IN CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE

Shot down before, this time advocates have momentum as bill heads to a vote

By J.W. August

Photo:  Isolation of patients in nursing homes during COVID era increases need for state oversight; image CC-by-NC via Bing

Update August 11, 2022:  AB 1502 has passed the State Senate Judiciary and Appropriations Committees, and now heads to the Senate floor.

Update 5 p.m. --AB 1502  passed the Assembly this afternoon by a 47-12 vote and now heads to the State Senate.

January 31, 2022 (San Diego) -- If you want to drive a car in California you need a driver's license. In San Diego County all dogs must be licensed.  But if you own a nursing home, you can buy another home or chain of facilities, and no license is required. 

Unlike a driver who is in multiple accidents or an animal that's attacked someone, there are no rules when it comes to the takeover or sale of nursing homes, no matter how ugly the track record of the firm buying or selling a nursing home.

Even if a chain operator has a history of poorly managed homes, it can add to its portfolio and can do so without first obtaining a license, as long as it submits a license application. The trouble is, such applications can take years to process.

The California Department of Public Health, which is charged with providing oversight of the nursing home industry, says it has no authority to disqualify owners and operators who are already in operation in the state. The agency says this is allowed to happen under what they call a Management Operations Transfer Agreement.

This is what Tony Chicotel, attorney for California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR), calls “zombie licenses.”. He explains it’s  “the essence of license-evasion.” 


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NO WAY OUT: HOW THE POOR GET STRANDED IN CALIFORNIA NURSING HOMES

By Jesse Bedayn, CalMatters

CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters

Photo:  Bradley Fisher, 62, in the Antioch home he eventually moved into after spending 14 years in a Bay Area nursing home. Sept. 2, 2021. Photo by Anne Wernikoff, CalMatters

January 29, 2022 (San Diego) - Bradley Fisher, a 62-year-old retired mechanic, lived in a Bay Area nursing home for 14 years. 

Entering at age 39, Fisher had been partially paralyzed when bone spurs severed tendons in his spine. After a few years of rehabilitation, Fisher said, he could have lived at home with proper care. 

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GOVERNOR NEWSOM SIGNS FIVE OF SIX NURSING HOME REFORM BILLS

East County News Service

October 9, 2021 (Sacramento) -- This week, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law five out of six reform bills that respond to the tragic conditions nursing home residents face in California and the growing public awareness during the pandemic that residents are often being neglected, abused, mistreated and exploited, as Cal Matters recently reported.

Known as the PROTECT Plan (Prioritize Responsible Ownership, Treatment, Equity and Corporate Transparency), the reforms are the product of a dedicated group of legislative champions: Senator Henry Stern and Assemblymembers Al Muratsuchi, Eloise Gómez Reyes, Ash Kalra, Reginald Bryon Jones-Sawyer Sr., and Adrin Nazarian.

The Governor signed the following measures:


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'PEOPLE ARE DYING AS WE WAIT'; BID TO TIGHTEN CALIFORNIA NURSING HOME OVERSIGHT SPUTTERS

By Jocelyn Wiener, CalMatters

CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters

Photo:  CC v ND

April 16, 2021 (Sacramento) - An effort to fix problems with the oversight of California’s nursing homes has stalled, sparking fears that the bill is doomed — and prompting elder care advocates to warn that even a delay jeopardizes residents’ safety.


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VACCINATIONS BEGIN AT LOCAL NURSING HOMES

By Miriam Raftery
 
January 5, 2021 (Santee) – COVID-19 vaccines for nursing home patients and staff have arrived in our region. Yesterday, vaccinations were provided at Edgemoor Skilled Nursing Facility in Santee.
 
Edgemoor, run by the County Health and Human Services Agency, was recently named best facility of its kind in California and San Diego by Newsweek magazine for the second year in a row, out of over 15,000 nursing homes in the U.S. 
 
The pandemic lockdown has been particularly difficult on seniors and disabled individuals in nursing homes, who have been barred from having visitors for months.

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REPORT: COVID SOARS IN NURSING HOMES WITH MORE PATIENTS OF COLOR

By Suzanne Potter, California News Service
 
December 2, 2020 (Sacramento) - A new report pinpoints why COVID-19 spread so fast this summer in California nursing homes.
 
The study found skilled nursing facilities that meet recommended staffing levels for Registered Nurses had half the infections compared to those that don't meet the standards. And the novel coronavirus infection rates are three times higher at facilities with large numbers of African-American patients.
 
That's according to Kristof Stremekis, director of market analysis and insight with the California Health Care Foundation, which commissioned the report.
 
"Black and Latinx people in California are disproportionately impacted by this virus," said Stremekis. "And we need to make sure that those facilities which are serving Black and Latinx patients have the resources that they need to keep people safe."

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READER'S EDITORIAL: WHY ARE NURSING HOMES LOOKING FOR IMMUNITY DURING COVID-19?

By Marcel Gemme

Image via Pixabay

May 5, 2020 (San Diego) - Nursing homes and other senior living facilities have been some of the hardest-hit communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.  As countless news stories emerge about outbreaks at nursing homes, the best guess that anyone has so far as to the total number of coronavirus deaths from nursing homes is 10,000.  


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42 NURSING HOME PATIENTS IN EL CAJON DIAGNOSED WITH COVID-19: VIRUS HAS CAUSED 7,000 DEATHS TIED TO NURSING HOMES NATIONWIDE

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Creative Commons via Bing

April 18, 2020 (El Cajon) – COVID-19 is having a devasting impact on nursing home patients. Nationwide, over 7,000 nursing home-related deaths have occurred, the New York Times reported on Friday in a headline that referred to the facilities as “death pits.”

Today, the California Health Department for the first time released statistics on coronavirus cases in nursing facilities. Locally, the hardest hit area is El Cajon, where 42 patients have been diagnosed with the virus in three nursing homes:  Country Hills Post Acute (19), Bradley Court (12), and Avocado Post Acute (11).


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CALIFORNIA ORDERS NURSING HOMES TO ADMIT RESIDENTS WITH COVID-19; EXPERTS CALL DIRECTIVE A “DEATH SENTENCE”

By Miriam Raftery

April 1, 2020 (San Diego) -- After weeks of warning Californians about the deadly threat the coronavirus poses to nursing home residents, the State of California on March 30th ordered California nursing home operators to bring the virus into their facilities, “knowing full well it is likely to kill many residents,” says Michael Dark, staff attorney at California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR).


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ARBITRATION ABOUT-FACE: FEDS SIDE WITH CORPORATE INTERESTS OVER VULNERABLE NURSING HOME RESIDENTS

 

East County News Service

June 8, 2017 (San Francisco) – In what a patient advocacy group calls a ”devastating turn," the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is proposing to not only terminate its short-lived ban on pre-dispute arbitration agreements in nursing homes but to endorse their use as a condition to receiving vital care and services.


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COURT BANS FORCED ARBITRATION AT NURSING HOMES THAT TAKE FEDERAL FUNDS

 

East County News Service

October 2, 2016 (Washington D.C.) – This week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid announce a new rule barring forced arbitration requirements at nursing homes that accept federal funds.


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COUNTY BOOSTING OVERSIGHT OF ELDER CARE HOMES

 

County News Service

March 16, 2014 (San Diego)--San Diego County officials took action Tuesday (3/11) to improve the level of care and oversight at nursing homes and other elder care facilities in the wake of troubling reports of poor supervision and treatment.


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BLOCK TO INTRODUCE BILL FOR OVERSIGHT REFORMS OF ELDERLY CARE FACILITIES

 

By Miriam Raftery

January 24, 2014 (San Diego)—State Senator Marty Block (D-San Diego) has announced he will introduce Senate Bill 911 to provide oversight  and reforms of residential elderly care facilities (RECF).    

Investigative reports by the California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR) and newspapers around the state have highlighted lack of training standards, neglect, ineffective penalties and inadequate enforcement plaguing residential care facilities. According to an in-depth investigative report by the San Diego Union-Tribune, hundreds of seniors have suffered broken bones, deadly bedsores and sexual assaults in San Diego alone.  More troubling, since 2008, 27 elderly residents have died from injuries and neglect suffered in San Diego County RCFEs.


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