LiberalNation
01-24-2008, 10:01 PM
This would eb good and mean more job opening as nursing homes are forced to run on more than a skelaton crew. Some of the ones I've been in have really sucked been then those were mostly gov. run that ran mostly on medicare.
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080124/NEWS01/801240419
FRANKFORT, Ky. -- Lois Pemble said she once found her mother alone, sprawled on the floor of her nursing home room, where she'd fallen.
On other occasions, Pemble found her mother with her clothes soaked in urine, waiting for help to get to the bathroom.
At one point, her family hired a private attendant for her mother, Helen Cammack, who died in 2006 at age 97. Pemble is outraged about what she views as holes in the laws governing Kentucky's nursing homes.
"It's a disgrace," Pemble said. "If the same rules and regulations were in place for child-care facilities, there would be an uproar." She has joined with Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform in pushing a bill that would require Kentucky to join 37 other states in setting minimum standards for the number of caregivers in nursing homes -- much as Kentucky requires for day-care centers.
House Bill 109, sponsored by Rep. Carl Rollins, D-Midway, would require nursing homes to have one nurse's aide for every nine residents during the day shift; one aide per 13 residents during the evening shift; and one aide for every 19 at night.
The bill also would increase the number of nurses required to be on duty -- currently the law requires only that a registered nurse be on duty eight hours a day and that one registered or licensed practical nurse be on duty the rest of the time.
The bill would require one nurse for every 21 residents in the day; one for every 29 on the evening shift; and one for every 42 residents overnight.
Other than requiring that a nurse be on duty, Kentucky law now says only that a "sufficient" number of staff be on hand to care for residents, but it does not define "sufficient."
The state has about 300 licensed nursing homes that care for about 23,000 residents, about 70 percent of them on Medicaid.Without minimum standards for staffing, families have to depend on nursing homes to provide adequate staff, said David Poland, who moved his mother from a Louisville facility that he said was understaffed to one in Bedford, Ind., south of Bloomington.
course
And the new measure already has encountered opposition from the industry, which has contributed more than $110,000 to lawmakers' campaigns since 1998, according to records from the Kentucky Registry for Election Finance.
"We oppose the bill," said Ruby Jo Lubarsky, president of the Kentucky Association of Health Care Facilities, which represents about 250 nursing and personal-care homes. "Why should we allow someone outside the business to dictate to us what numbers are appropriate?"
She said appropriate staffing levels should be based on professional judgment and the needs of the patients.
Jay Trumbo, the association's vice president, agreed.
"More bodies walking the hallway doesn't equate to better quality care," Trumbo said.
The nursing home associations represent a powerful lobbying influence in Frankfort.
The political action committee of the Kentucky Association for Health Care Facilities has donated $114,150 to lawmakers over the past nine years, and many of the recipients were on key committees or in leadership roles.
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080124/NEWS01/801240419
FRANKFORT, Ky. -- Lois Pemble said she once found her mother alone, sprawled on the floor of her nursing home room, where she'd fallen.
On other occasions, Pemble found her mother with her clothes soaked in urine, waiting for help to get to the bathroom.
At one point, her family hired a private attendant for her mother, Helen Cammack, who died in 2006 at age 97. Pemble is outraged about what she views as holes in the laws governing Kentucky's nursing homes.
"It's a disgrace," Pemble said. "If the same rules and regulations were in place for child-care facilities, there would be an uproar." She has joined with Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform in pushing a bill that would require Kentucky to join 37 other states in setting minimum standards for the number of caregivers in nursing homes -- much as Kentucky requires for day-care centers.
House Bill 109, sponsored by Rep. Carl Rollins, D-Midway, would require nursing homes to have one nurse's aide for every nine residents during the day shift; one aide per 13 residents during the evening shift; and one aide for every 19 at night.
The bill also would increase the number of nurses required to be on duty -- currently the law requires only that a registered nurse be on duty eight hours a day and that one registered or licensed practical nurse be on duty the rest of the time.
The bill would require one nurse for every 21 residents in the day; one for every 29 on the evening shift; and one for every 42 residents overnight.
Other than requiring that a nurse be on duty, Kentucky law now says only that a "sufficient" number of staff be on hand to care for residents, but it does not define "sufficient."
The state has about 300 licensed nursing homes that care for about 23,000 residents, about 70 percent of them on Medicaid.Without minimum standards for staffing, families have to depend on nursing homes to provide adequate staff, said David Poland, who moved his mother from a Louisville facility that he said was understaffed to one in Bedford, Ind., south of Bloomington.
course
And the new measure already has encountered opposition from the industry, which has contributed more than $110,000 to lawmakers' campaigns since 1998, according to records from the Kentucky Registry for Election Finance.
"We oppose the bill," said Ruby Jo Lubarsky, president of the Kentucky Association of Health Care Facilities, which represents about 250 nursing and personal-care homes. "Why should we allow someone outside the business to dictate to us what numbers are appropriate?"
She said appropriate staffing levels should be based on professional judgment and the needs of the patients.
Jay Trumbo, the association's vice president, agreed.
"More bodies walking the hallway doesn't equate to better quality care," Trumbo said.
The nursing home associations represent a powerful lobbying influence in Frankfort.
The political action committee of the Kentucky Association for Health Care Facilities has donated $114,150 to lawmakers over the past nine years, and many of the recipients were on key committees or in leadership roles.