STOP EA Launches New Campaign And Urges Caution: Carefully Review Services Administered to Loved Ones at Nursing Homes and Assisted Living Facilities in California
Sacramento, CA (PRWEB) July 30, 2014 -- STOP EA has undertaken a new campaign to warn family members to closely review the care their loved ones receive at nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Medicare pays nursing homes and assisted living facilities much more for patients who need acute care, based on its assumption that facilities will dedicate more nursing time to care for these sicker, more complicated patients. Some of the facilities, however, do not increase their staffing to cover these patients.
And in some cases, the facilities improperly place patients on hospice care or perform unnecessary therapies to increase their profits. "This is just one of many examples of the danger that comes with nursing homes and assisted living facilities using the hospice label incorrectly in order to make a profit," said STOP EA attorney, Jay Renneisen.
Understaffing also can lead to a host of issues and symptoms, including wandering/eloping. This is when an elderly patient wanders off, unsupervised. Wandering happens in nursing homes that fail to provide proper supervision. In such cases, the facility may be held responsible for elder abuse if that patient is harmed while wandering. Understaffed nursing homes and assisted living facilities often lack the ability to properly monitor patients with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, which can increase the likelihood that their patients wander.
Eloping and wandering can be harmful to the patient and, in the worse cases, even fatal. Studies, such as the 2004 Health Services Research article entitled Relationship of Nursing Home Staffing to Quality of Care, written by John F Schnelle, Sandra F Simmons, Charlene Harrington, Mary Cadogan, Emily Garcia, and Barbara M Bates-Jensen, have shown that nursing homes that have higher rates of staffing performed “significantly better on 13 of 16 care processes implemented” by nurse aides compared to homes with lower staffing rates.
"It is very important that families of loved ones in nursing homes and assisted living facilities are aware of the staffing levels because their well-being depends on it," Renneisen said.
The STOP EA campaign, a California law firm and collection of elder advocates founded by three experienced elder abuse attorneys, seeks justice for families whose loved one’s have been harmed in nursing homes and assisted living facilities and attempts to ensure that the same thing does not happen to the next vulnerable, unsuspecting family.
Those who are concerned about the quality of care their loved ones received can obtain a free, private case evaluation from STOP EA by calling 1-866-864-1800.
For more information on the campaign, identifying symptoms of neglect and informational videos, visit stopea.org.
STOP EA Contact / Spokesperson: Jay Renneisen - 1-866-864-1800
Jay Renneisen, Stop EA, http://stopea.org, +1 916-442-6000, [email protected]
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