Current Events > Trump admin eases fines for nursing home misconduct

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/24/business/trump-administration-nursing-home-penalties.html

The Trump administration is scaling back the use of fines against nursing homes that harm residents or place them in grave risk of injury, part of a broader relaxation of regulations under the president.

The shift in the Medicare programs penalty protocols was requested by the nursing home industry. The American Health Care Association, the industrys main trade group, has complained that under President Barack Obama, federal inspectors focused excessively on catching wrongdoing rather than helping nursing homes improve.

It is critical that we have relief, Mark Parkinson, the groups president, wrote in a letter to Mr. Trump in December 2016.

Since 2013, nearly 6,500 nursing homes four of every 10 have been cited at least once for a serious violation, federal records show. Medicare has fined two-thirds of those homes. Common citations include failing to protect residents from avoidable accidents, neglect, mistreatment and bedsores.

The new guidelines discourage regulators from levying fines in some situations, even when they have resulted in a residents death. The guidelines will also probably result in lower fines for many facilities.

The change in policy aligns with Mr. Trumps promise to reduce bureaucracy, regulation and government intervention in business.

Dr. Kate Goodrich, director of clinical standards and quality at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said in a statement that unnecessary regulation was the main concern that health care providers raised with officials.

Rather than spending quality time with their patients, the providers are spending time complying with regulations that get in the way of caring for their patients and doesnt increase the quality of care they provide, Dr. Goodrich said.

But advocates for nursing-home residents say the revised penalties are weakening a valuable patient-safety tool.

Theyve pretty much emasculated enforcement, which was already weak, said Toby Edelman, a senior attorney at the Center for Medicare Advocacy.

Medicare has different ways of applying penalties. It can impose a specific fine for a particular violation. It can assess a fine for each day that a nursing home was in violation. Or it can deny payments for new admissions.

The average fine in recent years has been $33,453, but 531 nursing homes amassed combined federal fines above $100,000, records show. In 2016, Congress increased the fines to factor in several years of inflation that had not been accounted for previously.

The new rules have been instituted gradually throughout the year.

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...the change means that some nursing homes could be sheltered from fines above the maximum per-instance fine of $20,965 even for egregious mistakes.

In September 2016, for instance, health inspectors faulted Lincoln Manor, a nursing home in Decatur, Ill., for failing to monitor and treat the wound of a patient whose implanted pain-medication pump gradually slipped over eight days through a ruptured suture and protruded from her abdomen. The patient died.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services fined Lincoln Manor $282,954, including $10,091 a day for 28 days, from the time the nursing home noticed the problem with the wound until supervisors had retrained nurses to avoid similar errors. An administrative law judge called the penalties quite modest given the appalling care.

The fines were issued before the new guidelines took effect; if the agency had issued a one-time fine, the maximum would have been less than $21,000.

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Wow... just, wow.
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Why? What good comes from doing this?
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that's actually quite sad. my mom works in nursing homes and assisted living programs and going by her stories, i don't see anything good coming from this
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talk about death panels

Pretty fucking disgusting.

There is literally no benefit to this at all and it's a common issue (not something so obscure this change doesn't really matter).

You literally can't justify this.
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Gotta look out for those business owners who donate and lobby. They make the laws!

Funny how the same people who want universal healthcare balk at the actual practices of universal healthcare- heavy caps on malpractice suits being one of them.
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Gonna play devil's advocate here. As a person who has worked in nursing homes in the past, angry, grumpy patients can wake up and day miserable and decide to bring charges on you just because they woke up with a toothache. Whether you are found guilty or not, your name stays in the state database as having beam accused. Many lives are ruined by that. I got accused of abuse by a miserable patient on a day I wasn't even working!!! And even though I was found innocent, the fact that I was accused remains in the state file and almost prevented me from obtaining my current job.

I don't advocate lowering fines on actual misconduct(that's insane and trump is an idiot for it), but the system needs to be revised and changed.
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Antifar posted...

The shift in the Medicare programs penalty protocols was requested by the nursing home industry. The American Health Care Association, the industrys main trade group, has complained that under President Barack Obama, federal inspectors focused excessively on catching wrongdoing rather than helping nursing homes improve.

Fair, next
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The American Health Care Association, the industrys main trade group, has complained that under President Barack Obama, federal inspectors focused excessively on catching wrongdoing rather than helping nursing homes improve

Good change.
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GregShmedley posted...

Or is "Trump does...[headline alluding to negative action]" all you need to make up your minds?

Stupid question, of course that's all they need.
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TheVipaGTS posted...

Why? What good comes from doing this?

Read the article

Im mixed. Ive been in a ton of nursing homes, and theyre fucking awful
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EnragedSlith posted...

TheVipaGTS posted...

Why? What good comes from doing this?

Read the article

Im mixed. Ive been in a ton of nursing homes, and theyre fucking awful

Of course they're awful, they're places where unwanted people are sent to die.
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I've picked up plenty of patients from nursing homes and a lot of them are really messed up and don't care about the people at all >_>
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Behaviorism posted...

I don't advocate lowering fines on actual misconduct(that's insane and trump is an idiot for it)

That's what this topic is about. You are devil's advocating another issue entirely.
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In any case, this seems like a simple case of correcting a previous effort after enough field data is collected. Nobody is a bad guy
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Wild guess: Obama reversal.
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The Admiral posted...

The American Health Care Association, the industrys main trade group, has complained that under President Barack Obama, federal inspectors focused excessively on catching wrongdoing rather than helping nursing homes improve

Good change.

At least admit all you read was "Obama" and that was all you needed.
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EnragedSlith posted...

TheVipaGTS posted...

Why? What good comes from doing this?

Read the article

Im mixed. Ive been in a ton of nursing homes, and theyre fucking awful

I did. I dont think the two should be mutually exclusive. Lowering or removing fines on real misconduct (which does happen a lot) isnt a smart thing to do and doesnt help anyone except those committing the misconduct.
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I admittedly read only the title, but this seems like a good move. We need to take steps to reduce the frivolous lawsuits these places deal with.
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TheVipaGTS posted...

Why? What good comes from doing this?

None

Just like removing net neutrality
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Nursing homes are shit. It'll continue to be shit until robots take over. The only good homes are either ridiculously expensive or private homes
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GregShmedley posted...

Someone from CE should tell the president of the American Healthcare Association that his request was bad.

It's a nursing home lobbyist group, not an authority on what's best for patients
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TheVipaGTS posted...

EnragedSlith posted...

TheVipaGTS posted...

Why? What good comes from doing this?

Read the article

Im mixed. Ive been in a ton of nursing homes, and theyre fucking awful

I did. I dont think the two should be mutually exclusive. Lowering or removing fines on real misconduct (which does happen a lot) isnt a smart thing to do and doesnt help anyone except those committing the misconduct.

CNAs are overworked and severly under paid. Levying harsh fines is a horrible stopgap to a broken system
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lww99 posted...

The Admiral posted...

The American Health Care Association, the industrys main trade group, has complained that under President Barack Obama, federal inspectors focused excessively on catching wrongdoing rather than helping nursing homes improve

Good change.

At least admit all you read was "Obama" and that was all you needed.

Not sure if you're illiterate or delusional.
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EnragedSlith posted...

In any case, this seems like a simple case of correcting a previous effort after enough field data is collected. Nobody is a bad guy

It's actually more accurate to say this is taking away the punishment for real misconduct while doing nothing to revamp the aspects that are in need of revamping.
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This is an indefensible bad move. Looks like I'll be hiring a home care nurse for my parents' twilight years.
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Wait do the people in favor of this actually think it will lead to improving nursing homes. Lmfao. You guys are so gullible

Axiom posted...

Wait do the people in favor of this actually think it will lead to improving nursing homes. Lmfao. You guys are so gullible

Absolutely not, but bigger fines aren't going to fix it either. Unless it's a home for rich people, generally employees are overworked and underpaid. They're basically treated like subhuman filth and that rolls downhill to patients being treated like shit.
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r4X0r posted...

Funny how the same people who want universal healthcare balk at the actual practices of universal healthcare- heavy caps on malpractice suits being one of them.

instead of actually addressing the issue at hand, the red-hatter deflects to blaming Liberals. color me surprised
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Conservatives are suddenly against punishment
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On one hand, I'd really like for the upcoming administration to just reverse every single thing that Trump did while in office, but on the other hand, I'm terrified of the precedence that it would create.
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voldothegr8 posted...

Axiom posted...

Wait do the people in favor of this actually think it will lead to improving nursing homes. Lmfao. You guys are so gullible

Absolutely not, but bigger fines aren't going to fix it either. Unless it's a home for rich people, generally employees are overworked and underpaid. They're basically treated like subhuman filth and that rolls downhill to patients being treated like shit.

Bigger fines wont fix it and lesser fines will make
It worse. This is nothing more than a special interest play. Theyre not addressing the problem and making a move that does nothing but helps those committing the acts that lead to those problems.
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voldothegr8 posted...

Axiom posted...

Wait do the people in favor of this actually think it will lead to improving nursing homes. Lmfao. You guys are so gullible

Absolutely not, but bigger fines aren't going to fix it either. Unless it's a home for rich people, generally employees are overworked and underpaid. They're basically treated like subhuman filth and that rolls downhill to patients being treated like shit.

Well you probably shouldn't support a party that actively advocates for continuing to treat those employees like subhuman filth. Hell, you shouldn't support a party that is detrimental to the health industry as a whole if you actually cared about any of this.
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Zeeak4444 posted...

voldothegr8 posted...

Axiom posted...

Wait do the people in favor of this actually think it will lead to improving nursing homes. Lmfao. You guys are so gullible

Absolutely not, but bigger fines aren't going to fix it either. Unless it's a home for rich people, generally employees are overworked and underpaid. They're basically treated like subhuman filth and that rolls downhill to patients being treated like shit.

Well you probably shouldn't support a party that actively advocates for continuing to treat those employees like subhuman filth. Hell, you shouldn't support a party that is detrimental to the health industry as a whole if you actually cared about any of this.

Nobody is advocating for that. Nobody is advocating for the opposite either.
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Trump keeps getting rid of government red tape and regulations

#winning
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What a bad decision.
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nursing home employees should refrain from misconduct because it's the right thing to do, not because they're scared of fines
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Behaviorism posted...

Gonna play devil's advocate here. As a person who has worked in nursing homes in the past, angry, grumpy patients can wake up and day miserable and decide to bring charges on you just because they woke up with a toothache. Whether you are found guilty or not, your name stays in the state database as having beam accused. Many lives are ruined by that. I got accused of abuse by a miserable patient on a day I wasn't even working!!! And even though I was found innocent, the fact that I was accused remains in the state file and almost prevented me from obtaining my current job.

I don't advocate lowering fines on actual misconduct(that's insane and trump is an idiot for it), but the system needs to be revised and changed.

What job do you have now?
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voldothegr8 posted...

Zeeak4444 posted...

voldothegr8 posted...

Axiom posted...

Wait do the people in favor of this actually think it will lead to improving nursing homes. Lmfao. You guys are so gullible

Absolutely not, but bigger fines aren't going to fix it either. Unless it's a home for rich people, generally employees are overworked and underpaid. They're basically treated like subhuman filth and that rolls downhill to patients being treated like shit.

Well you probably shouldn't support a party that actively advocates for continuing to treat those employees like subhuman filth. Hell, you shouldn't support a party that is detrimental to the health industry as a whole if you actually cared about any of this.

Nobody is advocating for that. Nobody is advocating for the opposite either.

Agree to disagree.
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Nursing homes are much more at fault at management levels than tgey are at personal care levels for malpractice. Is he changing thia so corporations suddenly have weekly OSHA visits or something? Are Pharmeceutical Review Boards now going to be combing through all corporate cases for anything sketchy? No? Trump is a simple minded idiot.
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Guys, you cant get in the way of business hurting old people.

If they make more money by being negligent that will trickle down to us eventually.
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Is this dude the devil?
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David Gifford, the American Health Care Associations senior vice president for quality, said daily fines were intended to prompt quick remedies but were pointless when applied to past errors that had already been fixed by the time inspectors discovered them.

What was happening is you were seeing massive fines accumulating because they were applying them on a per-day basis retrospectively, Mr. Gifford said.

Looks like the old system was just an excuse for the government to extract money from the homes for minor nonsense. This doesn't sound like it had the interests of the seniors in mind at all. Nursing homes will still be held liable for real abuse.

Like I said, another good policy change.
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hyperpowder posted...

Is this dude the devil?

Does this dude read past headlines?
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The Admiral posted...

David Gifford, the American Health Care Associations senior vice president for quality, said daily fines were intended to prompt quick remedies but were pointless when applied to past errors that had already been fixed by the time inspectors discovered them.

What was happening is you were seeing massive fines accumulating because they were applying them on a per-day basis retrospectively, Mr. Gifford said.

Looks like the old system was just an excuse for the government to extract money from the homes for minor nonsense. This doesn't sound like it had the interests of the seniors in mind at all. Nursing homes will still be held liable for real abuse.

Like I said, another good policy change.

That's not at all what it said. What it's saying is "holding them accountable for abuse that occurred prior to our arrival and which is no longer occuring will no longer be an option".

What you did is spin it into "all these complaints were minior issues like a broken light".

Solid try though.
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