Pursuing Quality Long-Term Care

M.T. Connolly is a writer, lawyer, researcher, policy-shaper, and leading national expert on elder justice. In her new book, The Measure of Our Age: Navigating Care, Safety, Money, and Meaning Later in Life, M.T. discusses the challenges of aging, how things go wrong, and presents powerful tools we can use to forge better long lives for ourselves, our families, and our communities. In this episode...

For decades Consumer Voice has designated October as Residents’ Rights Month. This month is an opportunity to recognize the value of each resident and the importance of treating every resident with dignity and respect. This year’s theme, Amplify Our Voices, highlights residents coming together to make their voices heard. In this episode, join us as we speak with two resident advocates. Floyd Hartl...

Residents' Rights Month is celebrated every October and this year’s theme, Amplify Our Voices, emphasizes a community of long-term care residents coming together to make their voices heard. As we lead into Residents’ Rights Month, Consumer Voice spoke with two State Ombudsmen, Kelly Richards (Illinois) and Mairead Painter (Connecticut), who shared their experiences of amplifying the voices of long...

When a person enters a nursing home, one of the first things they usually do is sign their admissions contract. Typically, these contracts contain pre-dispute arbitration agreements. These agreements take away your right to hold your nursing home accountable in court for any potential negligence or wrongdoing. “Pre-dispute” arbitration agreements require you to give up this right before the harm e...

Few lawsuits make it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. However, one brought by the family of Gorgi Talevski did just that -- and they won! The Talevski case decision is important in that it addresses the rights of nursing home residents, their ability to sue a state run (publicly owned) nursing home, and addresses the importance of the Nursing Home Reform Act in establishing the standard of c...

Although LGBTQ+ community members have the same rights as all other long-term care consumers, they often face hardship, such as discrimination and stigma, that their straight and cisgender counterparts do not. Even before entering long-term care, LGBTQ+ individuals are often concerned about whether the facility will accept them as who they are, and whether they will feel comfortable having partner...

Consumer Voice has long been concerned with the use of antipsychotics and other drugs in long-term care, as they are too often used as chemical restraints in place of providing adequate care. In this episode, Consumer Voice Executive Director, Lori Smetanka, is joined by award-winning writer/director Susie Singer Carter and former federal prosecutor Rick Mountcastle to discuss their upcoming docum...

The US Surgeon General referred to the epidemic of loneliness and social isolation in the United States as a public health crisis with profound consequences, and emphasized the need to prioritize social connections. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, perhaps no community was more impacted by loneliness and isolation than people living in long-term care. This seclusion led to many emotional, physica...

As we are finding our way out of the COVID-19 pandemic and Public Health Emergency (PHE) that devastated so many lives – particularly in nursing homes – there is an opportunity to look back at what happened, both the good and the bad, and find the lessons we can learn from to perhaps do better in the future. This is particularly true in evaluating what was happening in long-term care facilities pr...

February marked the one-year anniversary of President Biden's announcement of historic nursing home reforms. Creating a minimum staffing standard, which would be the most significant increase in protections for nursing home residents in decades, was central to his plan. In this episode, we are sharing the audio from Consumer Voice’s webinar that was part of the “Dignity for All: Staffing Standards...

February marked the one-year anniversary of President Biden's announcement of historic nursing home reforms. Creating a minimum staffing standard, which would be the most significant increase in protections for nursing home residents in decades, was central to his plan. In this episode, we are sharing the audio from Consumer Voice’s webinar that was part of the “Dignity for All: Staffing Standards...

February marked the one-year anniversary of President Biden's announcement of historic nursing home reforms. Creating a minimum staffing standard, which would be the most significant increase in protections for nursing home residents in decades, was central to his plan. In this episode, we are sharing the audio from Consumer Voice’s webinar that was part of the “Dignity for All: Staffing Standards...

This month marks the one-year anniversary of President Biden's announcement of historic nursing home reforms. Creating a minimum staffing standard, which would be the most significant increase in protections for nursing home residents in decades, was central to his plan. In this episode, we are sharing the audio from Consumer Voice’s webinar earlier this month that launched our “Dignity for All: S...

Intimacy and sexual expression are basic human rights and are needed throughout our lifespan. Aging does not mean a loss of sexual intimacy, but when an older adult is cognitively impaired, it can be difficult to determine if they are engaged in a healthy sexual relationship. The right to freedom of sexual expression among these populations has proven a sensitive and sometimes controversial topic,...

Recent CMS data shows that only 46% of nursing home residents are up to date on their COVID-19 vaccinations. That percentage is even lower for nursing home staff, 23.1%. COVID-19 cases and deaths are rising across the country, while at the same time seasonal influenza and RSV cases are also causing hospital beds to be full. This podcast features Dr. Celine Gounder who discusses the importance of n...

As the result of changing CMS and CDC guidance since the start of the pandemic, residents and families have had a great deal of uncertainty during the holidays surrounding visitation and the requirements for residents who leave their facilities. Jerry Rothkoff, of Rothkoff Law Group, joins us to talk about where visitation is now, almost three years into the pandemic, and how everyone can spend ti...

For decades the Consumer Voice has designated October as Residents’ Rights Month as a way to honor residents living in long-term care. This month is an opportunity to focus on the commitment to recognize the value of each resident and the importance of treating every resident with dignity and respect. In this episode, join us as we speak about this year’s Residents’ Rights Month theme, Inspiring U...

Abuse is defined in the federal nursing home regulations as the willful infliction of injury, unreasonable confinement, intimidation, or punishment with resulting physical harm, pain, or mental anguish. It can take many forms including physical abuse, verbal, sexual, mental, emotional, and financial. Even though federal law states that residents of long-term care facilities have the right to be fr...

Research has shown that staffing in nursing homes - numbers of staff, skills mix, and training - are critical indicators of quality care and positive resident outcomes. Yet too many nursing homes are understaffed, and the long-term care industry claims it does not have the resources to hire more staff. But is that really true? Listen in for a discussion about how complex facility practices and res...

The most significant nursing home reforms in decades were announced in February 2022. The reforms include the creation of a minimum staffing standard in nursing homes, accountability for poor performing nursing homes, increased transparency around ownership and finances, and support for direct care staff. These reforms are critical and urgently needed to address the inadequate conditions many resi...

In this episode, we take a deeper look at the Biden Administration's nursing home reforms, announced on February 28, 2022. These reforms include the most significant improvements to nursing homes in decades. We are joined by Sam Brooks and Jocelyn Bogdan of Consumer Voice, who break down the five categories of the reforms including (1) Ensuring taxpayer dollars support nursing homes that provide s...

On February 28, 2022, the Biden Administration announced it would be implementing new nursing home reforms including the creation of a minimum staffing standard in nursing homes, accountability for poor performing nursing homes, increased transparency around ownership and finances, and support for direct care staff. These reforms are critical and desperately needed to address the inadequate condit...

The pandemic has renewed concerns about the quality of care that residents receive in some nursing homes, and many family members have reported significant decline in the condition of their loved ones. Neglect and abuse of older adults is a long-standing problem that is under-reported and has not received the necessary attention and response from policymakers, yet it results in needless and preven...

On November 12, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued updated Nursing Home Visitation Guidance. Because of the high rates of vaccination among residents and the new vaccine requirement for staff, as well as the reduced number of new COVID-19 cases each week, visitation is now allowed at all times for all residents, this includes indoor visitation. In this episode, Jocelyn Bogda...

In this episode we are sharing with you a discussion that was held on Facebook Live around residents' rights in nursing homes. Lori Smetanka, Consumer Voice’s Executive Director, and Jocelyn Bogdan, Program and Policy Specialist at Consumer Voice talk about what impact COVID-19 has had on residents and their exercising of rights, they also provided an overview of residents' rights that exist in fe...