EDITORIAL: Hold poor nursing homes to account
Buffalo NewsFeb 24, 2019
As a recent article showed, the state's
A solution pushed by some advocates for nursing home patients is passage of a so-called safe staffing bill, which would mandate minimum staff requirements for each nursing home.
The problem with this approach is that it treats all nursing homes the same. Such a law would no doubt help resolve staffing shortages at the worst-run homes, but it would also handcuff some of the best-run facilities. There are better ways to address the problem.
Assembly Majority Leader
Facility operators say the staffing mandates would cost them an extra
In addition to RNs, LPNs and nursing assistants, long-term care facilities employ nurse practitioners, physical and occupational therapists and other professionals. Operators of the better-run nursing homes want the flexibility to choose the personnel mix best suited to their residents, rather than have ratios dictated by legislation. Their ability to customize treatment for individuals, as well as try innovative approaches, would be compromised by a one-size-fits-all law.
A better approach would be to create an oversight system akin to the one applied to the state's under-performing public schools, which are subject to receivership. Nursing homes are already ranked for quality. Instead of forcing an unnecessary and, in some cases, unwanted staffing grid on them, focus on the homes where residents are poorly served. That protects those that are delivering quality care while giving others an incentive to improve.
Nursing homes are privately owned businesses that, like day care providers, are licensed by the government, which has a duty to protect the facilities' vulnerable clients.
A recent report in The News found that the state
Of 145 allegations of insufficient staffing made in the two counties in the past five years, the state agency confirmed only six cases.
Rather than a paint-by-numbers staffing bill, the state needs to ensure the
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