Posted on: Friday, February 21, 2003
Bill to increase care-home scrutiny gains in Senate
By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Capitol Bureau
Surprise inspections on adult residential-care homes would be mandatory under a bill approved by two state Senate committees yesterday.
Senate Bill 1061 S.D. 1, which now goes to the full Senate for a floor vote, essentially reverses longstanding state Department of Health rules in which care-home operators are told the month and day of the week they will receive their annual inspection.
The department has been in the process of changing the rules to allow for unannounced inspections for three years, and Senate Human Services Committee Chairwoman Suzanne Chun Oakland said yesterday that she wants "some resolution" to the issue. A draft of the rule changes was delivered to the governor's office in October and is still awaiting approval.
At least two care-home residents have died from neglect since former health director Bruce Anderson ordered that the rules be changed in 1999, and some advocates for the elderly suspect other abuses go undetected.
The contentious issue seems to have gathered momentum this year among advocates, who say they are tired of waiting for the rules to be changed administratively. They argue that while many care-home operators provide good care, surprise inspections are necessary to detect abuse and substandard practices.
There are 545 adult residential-care homes licensed by the state Department of Health.
Care-home operators have opposed the practice of unannounced inspections, saying it would invade their privacy and disrupt their homes.
After the Senate committees' decision, Ron Gallegos, president of the 270-member Alliance of Residential Care Administrators, said the organization welcomes unannounced visits "as long as it's properly trained nurse surveyors who are hired by the Department of Health.
"It's very traumatic to the residents if they have different people coming in every time. They can get very disoriented, confused. ... If they're coming in to find abuse, a 20-30 minute visit would expose abuse, and we have no problem with that," Gallegos said.
A House bill that would allow for unannounced inspections of care homes will be heard today before the House Finance Committee.
In a three-part series this week, The Advertiser documented that at least 10 elderly people have died from neglect or abuse since 1999, and that during the past decade, 33 people 65 and older died in cases where decubitus ulcers — pressure sores associated with neglect — were the underlying causes of death. The newspaper also reported that laws that would have strengthened protections for the elderly have been rejected for years.
Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 525-8070.
