CONTACT:
Shirley Williams
Detroit Area Agency on Aging
(313) 446-4444 x5335 phone;
(313) 446-4445 fax
E-mail: williamsshi@daaa1a.org
CITY OF DETROIT DYING BEFORE THEIR TIME TASK FORCE TO HEAR FINDINGS FROM “THE LEAST AMONG US: AN ANALYSIS OF MEDICAID-INTENSIVE NURSING HOMES IN DETROIT AND THE PATIENTS THAT THEY SERVE” A REPORT BY RESEARCHERS FROM EASTERN STATE UNIVERSITY
DETROIT, MI – November 25, 2004 – Medicaid-dependent nursing homes in Detroit are closing in great numbers, leaving low-income, nursing home eligible seniors with few resources for institutional long-term care.
In an effort to provide recommendations on quality improvement for Medicaid-dependent nursing facilities, Detroit Area Agency on Aging commissioned with researchers at Eastern Michigan University to conduct an analysis of Medicaid-intensive nursing homes in Detroit and the patients that they serve.
Dr. Richard Douglass, Principal Investigator of the EMU study will present the findings and recommendations from this important report to members of The Mayor of Detroit Dying Before Their Time Task Force on Tuesday, November 30, 2004 at Cobo Conference and Exhibition Center at 8:30 A.M – 11:00 A.M. in room W1-55. Nursing home providers, elected officials, community leaders and senior advocates are invited to attend to learn more about the structural and regulatory procedures that often result in the closing of Medicaid-dependent facilities.
Within the last eight years, over seven nursing homes have closed within Detroit. Often, residents are told at a moment’s notice that the nursing facility will close and must relocate to another nursing home within days.
“We are definitely facing a crisis within our city when it comes to safe, practical and affordable continuum care options for older adults,” said Paul Bridgewater, Chair of the City of Detroit Dying Before Their Time Task Force. “Not many seniors can afford private pay nursing homes if they become unable to care for themselves or unable to live independently, so we must ensure that viable, safe, quality long-term care choices are available in Detroit.”
The EMU study provides invaluable information on the systematic contributors to the numerous closings of Medicaid-intensive nursing homes in Detroit. Some of the findings from this report are:
1. Because nursing homes that are certified for Medicaid in Detroit often have empty beds in recent years, it is not in the facility’s best interest to decline admission unless the patient poses a serious threat or a care-obligation that the facility cannot provide adequately.
2. As a result, hundreds of Medicaid-eligible adults, who have different activity levels, behaviors and personal needs that do not fit the traditional “nursing home patient” expectation, now share Detroit’s Medicaid facilities with traditional, frail elderly residents.
3. Mentally-ill, developmentally disabled, or younger chronically ill adults with diagnosis such as M.S., Parkinson’s Disease, HIV-AIDS and other conditions are often a large proportion of these nursing homes’ resident populations.
4. The professional staff in such facilities is unable to focus on geriatric needs as they might have been trained to do because a large proportion of their patients do not have geriatric problems.
5. Most Medicaid-dependent facility managers, administrators, owners and senior staff members consider State inspectors to be adversaries rather than advocates for either their facility or their patients.
The study also provides the following recommendations for improvement in the system:
1. Hold public hearings to follow-up on specific questions related to quality care.
2. Reconfiguring current providers, i.e., pooling licenses with groups of proprietary facility owners, providing new venues of care to replace old building stock, et al.
3. Promoting less adversarial regulation/excess capacity reduction.
4. Improving survey team management and accountability.
The Detroit Dying Before Their Time Task Force is a group of professionals in the field of aging services, healthcare, continuum care and residential care appointed by Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick in response to the “Dying Before Their Time” studies commissioned by Detroit Area Agency on Aging and the City of Detroit Senior Citizens Department.
For information on the Dying Before Their Time Studies or the Dying Before Their Task Force contact Anne Holmes Davis at 313-446-4444, ext. 5803.
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