State Doing Little To Stop Neglect, Abuse Of Elderly Ombudsman Says Despite New Laws, Problems Continue In Adult Boarding Homes In State
Abuse and neglect are still significant problems in adult boarding homes in Washington, and the state Department of Health has done little about it, a watchdog agency said Monday.
The Washington State Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program released a report saying many of the problems in the state’s more than 400 boarding homes are due to inadequately trained workers, insufficient staffing and poor oversight and investigations by the Health Department, which is responsible for protecting the safety and welfare of most of the homes’ elderly and disabled residents.
Monday’s report was the third in three years by the ombudsman program, an independent watchdog organization funded by federal, state and local governments to monitor long-term care homes.
The 1995 and 1996 reports found extensive problems in regulatory oversight of the quality of care in the homes. In response, the Legislature last year passed a series of reforms to better protect residents and directed the ombudsman to do a followup report.
That report concludes most of the problems discussed in the previous reviews still exist.
“With a few notable exceptions, the performance of the Department of Health is extremely disappointing, even though the governor and the state Legislature have made the protection of these vulnerable people a top priority,” said Kary Hyre, the ombudsman.
“After two critical reports and a tough new law passed last year, the Department of Health still is not providing adequate protection for these vulnerable people.”
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said the department has made improvements and will work harder to resolve the problems cited.
“We’re very committed to this program and making sure that people who live in boarding homes have good care and that they live in safe housing,” Renee Guillierie said. “That’s the purpose of our program.”
The ombudsman’s report cited some examples of abuse and neglect in boarding homes. One was the case of Vicki Creighton, who submitted a detailed complaint to the Health Department describing the alleged conditions in her father’s Tacoma boarding home.
Creighton said she often found him covered with feces, unbathed, wearing the same clothes and his skin raw and infected. She said Health Department investigators failed to contact her or the doctor she took her father to see, yet ruled the complaint as unsubstantiated.
The ombudsman recommends, among other things, that sanctions be required for serious or repeat violations by facilities and that regulation of all boarding homes be turned over to the state Department of Social and Health Services. DSHS currently oversees only Medicaid patients in boarding homes.
xxxx FROM THE REPORT Here’s a look at some of the key findings and recommendations in a report on boarding homes released Monday by the Washington State Long-term Care Ombudsman Program:
Findings Failure to impose sanctions. The state Department of Health - and sometimes the state Department of Social and Health Services - often fails to impose adequate sanctions on facilities for serious or repeated violations. Lack of training for boarding home workers. Staffers are required to obtain only between 20 and 40 hours of training. In comparison, manicurists are required to receive 500 hours of training. Inadequate staffing levels. Health Department has approved ratios of 1 caregiver for every 40 to 60 residents. Widely varying investigations. While the Health Department has conducted lackluster investigations of complaints of abuse and neglect in boarding homes, DSHS consistently has conducted thorough and professional probes.
Recommendations Require sanctions against serious and repeat offenders. Eliminate dual regulation of boarding homes by transferring oversight from Health Department to DSHS. Provide adequate resources to oversee boarding homes by supporting the supplemental budget request to hire more investigators. Raise substantially the training standards for the staffs of boarding homes and adult family homes.