November 29, 2018 - Laserfiche WebLink

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supported the current status quo. Linda Lingle, however, stated she would support unannounced inspections— and won over many senior advocates in the audience. Linda Lingle was elected Governor and we happily waited for Dr. Anderson's policy directive to be enforced. And once again, it never happened. Instead of an "unannounced" annual inspection, Lingle continued the current policy but, as a concession, also added an annual "unannounced" visit. This meant she doubled the surveyors' workload without doubling their staffing ... and they have fallen behind in the mandatory inspections ever since. The "unannounced" visits reveal which homes are providing substandard care BUT these visit reports are not accessible to the public. The Department knows better than anyone, because of these visits, which homes really should be closed down but if they do, dose down a home, where do they place the residents being displaced? And since some of these homes will sue, the Department needs to make sure they did everything by the book and all their documentation is in order. It's so much easier to just pretend not to know. We've spent close to 20 years trying to get the Governor, the Legislature and the Department of Heath to require real, honest "unannounced" inspections. Get rid of the annual visits so state surveyors can focus on the inspections. Gov. Abercrombie signed that law but it's still being fought by the Department of Health. Read the Department's 2018 Report to the legislature where they recommend "Delay by two (2) years the effective date of conducting unannounced annual inspections until July 1, 2021, while more data is gathered on outcomes of unannounced visits. Continue with the current procedure for annual inspections for purposes of license and certification renewals." This same report also states "The department shall conduct unannounced visits with greater frequency in addition to the one (1) mandatory unannounced visit as currently allowed in statute. This may require additional staffing resources or, without additional staff, would require prioritizing unannounced visits higher than announced annua/inspections " NO!! Failing a "visit" has no consequences and the public can't review these visit reports prior to placing a loved one in that home. This is backward thinking. We need REAL UNANNOUNCED inspections. Drop the visits so you have sufficient staffing to do the job correctly. Gov. Ige has attended every Older Americans Month luncheon since being elected and has made a commitment to protect our most vulnerable seniors. Twenty years ago Dr. Anderson tried to improve the care and protection of our seniors but he was unsuccessful. He now has a second chance and with the State Auditor's Report, he has the documentation needed to make substantial improvements. Let's get this job done! ®hoY G. 9 c®ero£ , LSW,, ACSW, N. Div State Long -Term Care Ombudsman Executive Office on Aging No. 1 Capitol District 250 South Hotel Street, Suite 406