the Nursing Home Transparency & Improvement Act of 2009 another try at
passing. Their goal with the bill...increase accountability in the
nursing home industry and sort out the network of owners that run many
facilities.
The bill comes out of growing concerns about homes owned by
large private equity firms who often build complex corporate structures
to shield them from liability. Under this legislation nursing homes
would have to name the members of the groups that own them, give the
organizational structures of all affiliated entities and give
information about those involved in the management, operation and
financing
The bill would require a real time system for reporting
staffing information to the US DHHS cutting down on a facility trying to
manipulate its staffing numbers. The CMS website would be able to
provide more information on its Nursing Home Compare website including
the ownership information, staffing data and a standardized complaint
reporting form.
The legislation would also give the government more
enforcement options including flexibility in assessing penalties and
collecting money sooner. It would require facilities to come up with
compliance and ethics plans to prevent civil, criminal and
administrative violations. Facilities would also have to develop
internal quality assurance standards.
The last thing the legislation would do is require HHS to
come up with a national monitoring program to watch over multi-state and
large intrastate nursing home chains.
The goal is more transparency, better enforcement and
improved staff training according to Sen. Grassley. Currently the bill
is pending before the Finance Committee.
Tammy Schroeder
Very nice article
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