Interesting that he waited till now....!!! Could have been proposed 8 years ago....AMAZING that people just don't see through this...
KLP
Clinton Proposes $1 Billion to Boost Nursing Home Care
Sep 16 4:50pm ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Noting that more than half of U.S. nursing homes do not have adequate staffing levels, President Clinton on Saturday proposed a $1 billion investment to improve nursing home quality.
In a live radio address from the Washington Home nursing home, Clinton quoted from studies that showed many nursing homes cannot provide adequate care.
``Too many of our seniors and Americans with disabilities in homes, in too many of those homes, are not getting the proper attention they deserve,'' Clinton said. ``According to current research, the number one culprit is chronic understaffing.''
Clinton delivered his address before a group of seniors, many of them in wheelchairs.
``A recent study from the Department of Health and Human Services reports that more than half of America's nursing homes don't have the minimum staffing levels necessary to guarantee quality care,'' Clinton said. ``And too often the staff that is there isn't properly trained.''
The Health Care Financing Administration recently released a report that showed that when staffing levels fell, patients were more likely to develop pressure sores, lose weight and undergo unnecessary hospitalizations.
Another study estimated that more than 30 percent of nursing home residents were malnourished, putting them at risk for infections and other ailments.
Clinton said he would send legislation to Congress next week to improve nursing home quality nationwide.
The initiative invests $1 billion over five years in a new grant program to increase staffing. It also imposes penalties on nursing facilities that place residents at risk and reinvests the funds in the new grant program.
It establishes minimum staffing requirements and requires facilities to post the number of health care personnel serving their patients.
Under the plan, the government will take new measures to educate caregivers at nursing homes.
``Of all the obligations we owe to one another, our most sacred duty is to our parents,'' Clinton said. ``They shouldn't go another day without the care they deserve wherever they live, in whatever nursing home facility.''
Rep. J.C. Watts of Oklahoma, a member of the House of Representatives Republican leadership, said Clinton had ignored the problem of a legal system that had burdened nursing homes.
``The deeper problem of a legal system run amok is forcing many nursing homes to shut down because trial lawyers sue at every turn,'' Watts said.
``Offering federal grants to nursing homes might sound good at first, but by adding burdensome regulation along with it, the president gives with one hand, and let's the trial lawyers take with another,'' Watts said in a statement. |
