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October 12, 2021

In this Issue:

  1. Residents' Rights Discussion on Facebook Live Thursday
  2. New Residents' Rights Education Materials
  3. Report Shows Signficant Increase in COVID-19 Deaths in Nursing Homes in August 2021
  4. HHS Issue Brief on Addressing Health Disparities by Race and Ethnicity During COVID-19
  5. NORC Webinar on Inappropriate Evictions in Residential Care Communities
  6. CA Governor Signs Nursing Home Reform Bills
  7. New Resources for LGBT Older Adults from SAGE

Residents' Rights Discussion on Facebook Live Thursday

It's Residents' Rights Month! Join us Thursday at 1:00pm ET for a Facebook Live discussion around residents' rights in nursing homes.  We'll talk about what impact COVID-19 has had on residents and their exercising of rights, and provide an overview of residents' rights that exist in federal law.
 
How to Attend: No registration is necessary. Visit us on Facebook at facebook.com/theconsumervoice and like and follow our page. (If you like and follow our page, you'll get a notification on Facebook when we go live.)  On Thursday at 1:00pm ET, visit our Facebook page, and we'll be live at the top of our page.

New Residents' Rights Education Materials

Consumer Voice and the National Long-Term Care Ombudsman Resource Center (NORC) published new consumer education materials regarding nursing home residents' rights.

These materials can be used as a training toolkit for:

  • Community education;
  • Training for Resident and Family councils;
  • Training for facility staff; and
  • Initial training for Ombudsman program staff and volunteers

Materials include a prezi - a visual storytelling alternative to a PowerPoint presentation; a PowerPoint for consumer education and a PowerPoint for  in-service training.

Get Training Materials

Report Shows Significant Increase in COVID-19 Deaths in Nursing Homes in August 2021

A new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation showed that nursing home staff and residents experienced a more significant increase in COVID-19 deaths than the rest of the country in August 2021.  Nursing homes across the US reported nearly 1,800 COVID-19 deaths among residents and staff in August 2021, the highest number of COVID-19 deaths reported in a single month since February 2021 and a steep increase from the approximately 350 deaths reported in July 2021.  COVID-19 deaths increased at a more rapid rate in nursing homes than among all others in the community between July and August 2021. The number of COVID-19 deaths among staff and residents in nursing homes quadrupled between July and August, while COVID-19 deaths in the community doubled in the same time period.

Read the full report.

HHS Issue Brief on Addressing Health Disparities by Race and Ethnicity During COVID-19

The US Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation has published an issue brief addressing health disparities by race and ethnicity during the COVID-19 pandemic.  The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted stark health disparities among Black, Hispanic, Native American, and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander populations in several areas, including infections, hospitalizations, death rates, and vaccination rates. This issue brief describes current evidence related to COVID-19 related health disparities, and it includes potential policy solutions to improve health equity.

Read the issue brief.

NORC Webinar on Inappropriate Evictions in Residential Care Communities

Join the National Long-Term Care Ombudsman Resource Center (NORC) for a webinar on Wednesday, October 27th at 3:00pm ET - Protecting Residents from Inappropriate Evictions in Residential Care Communities.  Learn about federal and state legal tools and advocacy strategies to defend residents of residential care communities (RCCs) from inappropriate evictions.

Eric Carlson of Justice in Aging will provide an overview of common state laws that may be utilized for eviction protection and explain how the Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Rule requires protections against inappropriate eviction for residents living in residential settings funded by Medicaid HCBS programs (e.g., RCCs).

Attendees will also hear about state and local advocacy strategies to address evictions of residents in RCCs. Amanda Scott, Idaho State Long-Term Care Ombudsman, and Molly Davies, Vice President of Elder Abuse Prevention and Ombudsman Services, WISE & Healthy Aging, California Long-Term Care Ombudsman program, will share their work.

Register Now

CA Governor Signs Nursing Home Reform Bills

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed bills responding to the conditions nursing home residents face in California and the growing public awareness during the pandemic that residents are often being neglected, abused, mistreated and exploited, according to an alert from the California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR). 

The Governor signed five of six bills as a part of the so-called PROTECT Plan (Prioritize Responsible Ownership, Treatment, Equity and Corporate Transparency):

  • SB 650 The Corporate Transparency in Elder Care Act, requires nursing homes to submit annual consolidated financial reports so the public can see how its money is used.
  • AB 849 restores nursing home liability of up to $500 for each violation of a resident’s rights, undoing a damaging California Supreme Court decision that nursing homes could violate as many resident rights as it wants for $500.
  • AB 323 gives a long-overdue inflationary boost to nursing home citation penalties and updates the standard for Class AA citations for violations that cause a resident’s death.
  • AB 1042  establishes shared liability for entities that share ownership or control of nursing homes when specified penalties or fees are unpaid.
  • AB 749 requires nursing home medical directors to be certified by the American Board of Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine within five years of the date of hire.

Read CANHR's alert for more information.

New Resources for LGBT Older Adults from SAGE

SAGE (Advocacy & Services for LGBT Elders) has published two new resources:

Local Community Advocacy: Advocating for the Needs of LGBT Older Adults Receiving Aging Services
Your voice is needed now more than ever to advocate for yourself and others as they access needed aging services and programs in their communities. Too often, older LGBT people delay seeking needed care due to a fear of discrimination from an aging network of service providers that historically have not been welcoming. This toolkit provides an overview of local aging services and programs, how LGBT advocates and organizations like yourself can get involved, and how Aging Advisory Councils can advance the priorities and address the needs of older LGBT people.

Supporting your LGBTQ+ Grandchild (SAGE & PFLAG)
In partnership with our friends at SAGE--and with a foreword by Dear Abby--SUPPORTING YOUR LGBTQ+ GRANDCHILD offers support for grandparents about what to do when a grandchild comes out. Full of useful knowledge, answers to common questions, and helpful tips, this is a must-read for any grandparent looking to learn more about how to support LGBTQ grandkids...or looking for support for themselves.
Also, available in Spanish.

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