In order for a nursing home to receive funding from the federal government, it has to meet certain requirements for care. These care guidelines haven’t been updated in 24 years. Now the Obama administration is proposing new rules that nursing homes must meet. The changes are estimated to cost nursing homes an extra $40,000 a year.
One of the new requirements is that staff must have the skills to provide behavioral healthcare, which includes learning how to care for residents with mental illnesses. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which is responsible for enforcing the rules, also wants nursing homes to have a director of food and nutrition to ensure patients get adequate nutrition, and food must be provided that matches with a resident’s allergies, intolerances, and preferences.
Finally, the rules would require a new compliance and ethics program to reduce ethical and criminal violations. The public has 60 days to comment on the proposed rules.
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We think rules like these can greatly assist in improving the quality of life of our elderly citizens. We expect our nursing homes to take care of our loved ones. When they fail in this duty, nursing homes must be brought into compliance or shut down. Civil lawsuits are one way of doing this. If you have a loved one in a nursing home and you feel they have been abused, contact Schenk Smith Trial Attorneys.
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