Michigan Campaign For Quality Care

Newsletter

August, 2007

1. Please join us at our next statewide meeting on Saturday, September 22, 2007 from 10:30-2:30 at the Library of Michigan Lake Superior Room, 717 West Allegan, Lansing. And stay tuned for our November 17 meeting (Lake Superior Room, Library of Michigan, 717 West Allegan, Lansing). We love to welcome new members (and provide door prizes to first-timers and the members who bring them)! If you plan to attend the September meeting, please RSVP to Alison Hirschel at hirschel@umich.edu or 517-324-5754 by September 20.

2. The Campaign welcomes a new baby into the family! The Campaign extends a warm welcome to our newest, member, Taylor Jay Nasers, who was born on August 21. Taylor’s mom, Tina Nasers, is the Campaign’s Webmaster and his grandmother, Carole Newburry, is the Campaign’s statewide secretary. We’re delighted to hear that the whole family is doing well.

3. Ciena Health Care Management, Inc, manager of 30 Michigan nursing homes, agrees to pay $1.25 million in fines and a five year agreement to improve care in response to a government lawsuit alleging health care fraud – Ciena Health Care Management recently entered into a settlement agreement in a lawsuit charging that the company falsely billed Medicaid and Medicare for inadequate care provided at four Michigan nursing homes. The charges arose from an investigation by state and federal prosecutors of care at Qualicare Nursing Home in Detroit, Northfield Place in Whitmore Lake, Americare Convalescent Center of Detroit, and St. James Nursing Center in Detroit. The lawsuit was initiated by a whistleblower under the federal False Claims Act. To settle the suit, Ciena agreed to repay $1.25 million in Medicare and Medicaid funding and enter into a five year agreement to improve care in all their facilities, not just the facilities implicated in the investigation.

The corporation and three of its officers allegedly failed to provide adequate care in the areas of nutrition and hydration, assessment and evaluation of residents’ needs, care planning and nursing interventions, medication management, fall prevention, and the prevention and care of pressure ulcers (bedsores). According to the Attorney General’s Office, complying with the settlement agreement will cost Ciena approximately $500,000 per year and the corporation’s performance will be overseen by an independent monitor. The company and its officers deny the allegations of the lawsuit but allege they settled the case to avoid the delay, uncertainty, and expense of protracted litigation.The Campaign is indebted to the whistleblower who started this litigation and to the many state and federal officials who collaborated on this effort to bring poor care to light and to reach an appropriate settlement.

4. Ombudsman Advisory Group seeks comments on proposal to restructure State and local ombudsman programs– An Advisory Group to the State Long Term Care Ombudsman Program has issued a proposal to create a new not for profit agency that would employ both the state ombudsman and the local ombudsman staff and would be dedicated to achieving the mission of the long term care ombudsman program. Long term care ombudsmen are funded by the state and federal government to be independent advocates for residents of licensed long term care facilities – nursing homes, homes for the aged, and adult foster care homes. Currently, the state ombudsman office is housed in the Office of Services to the Aging in the Michigan Department of Community Health. Local ombudsman are employed by the not for profit agency Citizens for Better Care in many areas of the state and by Area Agencies on Aging in other regions of the state.

Those who have already reviewed the proposal have expressed a variety of responses. The Advisory Group welcomes in-put from all interested parties. To read the proposal and supporting materials, contact State Ombudsman Sarah Slocum at slocums@michigan.gov or 517-373-8230. Comments are due by September 17, 2007 and can be submitted to ombudsmancomments@gmail.com. Once the Advisory Group reviews all comments, it will make a final proposal to Sharon Gire, Director of the Office of Services to the Aging who, in consultation with Janet Olszewski, Director of the Michigan Department of Community Health, will determine how the program should be structured.

If you or a loved one has a problem with or question about quality of care, quality of life, or rights in a nursing home, home for the aged, or adult foster care facility, you can call The Long Term Care Ombudsman program, toll free, at 1-866-485-9393.

5. The Campaign seeks nominations for its second annual Courage and Heart Awards– Last year, the Campaign presented its first Courage and Heart Awards to State Medicaid Director Paul Reinhart; former Acting Director of the Michigan Office of Long Term Care Supports and Services Jan Christensen, and Rep. Rick Shaffer. We are again soliciting nominations for this award. Please nominate anyone–from a state official to a front line caregiver-- who has made a substantial contribution to improving the lives of long term care consumers. To nominate an individual, please contact Carole Newburry at 269-353-6445 or cjnewb@mei.net by September 21 and tell us the name and position of the person you would like to nominate and why you think the Campaign should honor this individual. We will make the final decision on this year’s award winners at our Sept. 22 statewide meeting and present the awards in October at the Annual State Bar Elder and Disability Rights Section conference at Crystal Mountain Resort.

6. State appoints committee to review standards for permitting nursing home providers to expand their facilities or build new nursing homes–the State has appointed a new Certificate of Need Standards Advisory Committee to review the standards the state uses to approve or deny applications by nursing home providers to expand their facilities or build new nursing homes. One of the Committee’s responsibilities is to recommend whether the state should consider the quality of care provided in the applicant’s existing facilities when it decides whether to approve an application. More information about the Committee’s work is available at http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mdch/NH_Charge_190934_7.pdf. The committee is chaired by elder law attorney Doug Chalgian and includes State Ombudsman Sarah Slocum and Campaign counsel Alison Hirschel.

7. U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley calls for a nursing home watch list to alert the public to troubled homes – Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has requested that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services establish a watch list to identify for the public nursing facilities that are repeatedly cited for violations, what the violations involved, and what sanctions were imposed. For more information on Sen. Grassley’s proposal, see http://www.nccnhr.org/uploads/GrassleyLetterreWatchList.pdf.

8. Nursing Home Residents’ Rights Week is October 7-13, 2007 – Each year, Residents' Rights Week is celebrated across the country to focus on and honor residents in all long-term care facilities. For a 2007 Residents' Rights Week Packet including promotional materials, activities to celebrate residents’ rights week, training tools, and resource listings, see http://www.ltcombudsman.org/ombpublic/49_607_3140.CFM.

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The Campaign extends hearty congratulations to Ann Arbor member Liz Wiley, J.D., M.P.H., who leaves this month on a prestigious Fulbright Fellowship to study home and community based long term care in Norway!