Serving People Through the
Continuum of Long-Term Care |
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Serving People Through the
Continuum of Long-Term Care |
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Statement by Gary Macomber, Executive Vice President of the California Association of Health Facilities Sacramento, Calif. (July 27, 1998) We are proud of the work of California's nursing facilities who, day in and day out, provide excellent care to those who are most vulnerable. We deplore any case of neglect or abuse, no matter how rare. We support the need for government oversight, and we expect that allegations of unsatisfactory care will be investigated swiftly and objectively. California has over 100,000 individuals residing in over 1,400 facilities throughout the state. The General Accounting Office report findings are based in large part on onsite visits to just two providers which were intentionally selected from the poorest performing facilities. Although perhaps well-intended, the GAO's investigation was incomplete, resulting in a report that makes a sweeping indictment of California nursing facilities based on a small group of providers. It's all too easy to take a limited number of residents in non-representative facilities and jump to hasty conclusions regarding resident care. The aging process presents complex issues that require comprehensive evaluation of individualized care. Our nation's commitment to addressing serious issues related to aging has long been lacking. California's nursing facility industry would welcome a thorough, unbiased and non-political analysis of nursing facility regulatory oversight. Although we disagree with the GAO report's methodology and related efforts to paint all facilities with one brush, we do agree that the current enforcement system is not what it should be. We must work together to develop a system that focuses as much attention on care outcomes and patient satisfaction as it does on regulatory compliance. We need a system that targets enforcement efforts on facilities with consistent problems and helps them improve the internal systems necessary to ensure continuous quality. We need a system that supports good providers and shares their successful programs with others so that all residents can benefit from their example. The vast majority of California's nursing facilities do provide excellent care. Sensationalistic reports and harsher regulations won't rid the world of provider problems, but they could make good providers and caring, committed staff rethink their willingness to continue operating and working in such a negative, unsupportive environment. The California Association of Health Facilities (CAHF) is a non-profit professional association founded in 1950 to serve as a statewide organization for long-term care providers. CAHF's membership is comprised of more than 1,550 licensed nonprofit and proprietary long-term care facilities serving a wide spectrum of needs in settings which include skilled nursing, intermediate care, subacute, mental health, rehabilitation, residential care facilities for the elderly and services for persons with developmental disabilities. |
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