California Licensing Agency Handles Over 14,000 Nursing Home Complaints Each Year

Nursing Home Residents’ Rights Protection Act Proposed in California

SACRAMENTO, CA — April 22, 2005 — The California Nursing Home Residents’ Rights Protection Act (S.B. 526) would improve the quality of life and care for nursing home residents, according to its author, Sen. Elaine Alquist (D–San Jose), and the senior advocacy group, California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform. The bill addresses resident rights, staffing requirements, and safety by:

• Providing financial penalties for nursing homes that violate minimum staffing standards. The nursing homes would be required to submit their payroll data to the state Department of Health Services (DHS) on a quarterly basis in order to document that they are meeting staffing standards.
• Establishing complaint response units in each nursing home Licensing and Certification district office to respond to questions and complaints. Currently, a central office handles all nursing home complaints.
• Increasing the list of residents’ rights to include the right to choose an attending doctor, the right to leave the nursing home, and the right to be readmitted after a hospital stay. The nursing home would also be required to let the resident choose activities and schedules that most closely fit his or her needs and preferences.
• Defining “Class A” violations, the most serious citations for nursing home offenses, to include sexual abuse of nursing home residents by staff members.
• Prohibiting discrimination against nursing home applicants based on their Medi–Cal status. Instead, applicants would be admitted in the order in which they first applied, and the nursing home would keep a dated list of applications. If a nursing home violated the anti–discrimination requirements, the DHS would decrease the facility’s Medi–Cal reimbursement rate for one year.

California AARP and Other Senior Groups Support S.B. 526

Every year, California consumers file over 14,000 oral and written nursing home complaints with the DHS. By decentralizing the complaint process, more nursing home complaints may be investigated in a timely manner, according to S.B. 526 supporters. The bill would also make nursing homes more accountable to their residents.

The list of S.B. 526 supporters includes AARP California, the California Council of the Alzheimer’s Association, and the National Senior Citizens Law Center, in addition to California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform. The full text of the bill is reproduced on the state Senate web site.

The Senate Health Committee will consider S.B. 526 this week. If you are a California resident, we urge you to tell your Senator to vote YES on this bill. You can find a sample letter supporting S.B. 526 on the California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform web site. The group provides a form that allows you to send this letter or your own modified version of the letter by e–mail to members of the Senate Health Committee as well as to your own Senator.

Brayton Purcell supports S.B. 526 and other legislation that helps seniors in nursing homes. Our firm represents victims of elder abuse, nursing home abuse, and neglect. We also handle nursing home complaints involving inadequate pain management. If you have a question about the legal rights of an elderly loved one, please feel free to contact us.

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S.B. 526 would:

• Provide penalties for evading minimum nursing home staffing requirements
• Increase the rights of nursing home residents
• Allow local licensing divisions to handle nursing home complaints
• Prohibit discrimination against Medi–cal applicants to nursing homes
• Revise the category of the most serious nursing home complaints

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