In recent days, Gov. Jerry Brown has signed into law 10 bills aimed at improving conditions in the states roughly 7,700 assisted living facilities. The new regulations are, to be sure, a major step forward. Facilities will be required to give staffers more training and correct significant problems promptly, generally within 10 days. Perhaps most important: the financial penalties for severe transgressions have been increased dramatically — $15,000 is now the top fine for violations that lead to the death of a resident — giving assisted living operators a real financial incentive to better treat their clients. Even before Brown approved the new legislation, the social services department had shown some signs that it had been stirred to action. The department sought and received a budget bump of $7.5 million to hire more than 70 new employees. And it enhanced its website, giving the public more information about facilities that have been cited for regulatory violations. But advocates for the elderly say the regulatory apparatus could still be strengthened in many ways. Most notably, California is sticking with its five-year inspection cycle; 43 other states require more frequent inspections; 19 states mandate inspections at least every 18 months. So far, Governor Brown has only committed to studying the possibility of conducting annual inspections starting in 2018. There are undoubtedly fiscal concerns about stepping up inspections. Just how great those fiscal implications would be is a matter of debate, however. According to an analysis by the California Department of Finance, moving to an annual schedule would require the state to hire 32 new employees and cost $2.9 million per year — a minute fraction of Californias total budget of $156.4 billion. And our reporting has made clear that a decision not to spend that money, now or in the future, comes with its own cost: the increased vulnerability of seniors, many suffering from dementia and other serious health conditions, to cruel or negligent caregivers.
Posted on: Sun, 12 Oct 2014 07:21:41 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015