Unlike nursing homes, residential care facilities or assisted living facilities are not subject to the same regulation and government oversight. One can’t simply log on to the myriad of nursing home evaluation websites to look at the latest inspection reports or complaint investigation. So how do you adequately evaluate a…
The Ombudsman Services of Northern California, an organization dedicated to creating a corps of compassionate advocates for residents in long-term care facilities believes that state budget cuts to its ombudsman program will lead directly to an increase in cases of elder abuse and neglect. This year the organization, which tracks…
Residential care facilities for the elderly are a largely unregulated in California. Despite the fact that they house more than 100,000 Californians, many with limited mobility, there is currently no requirement that they maintain disaster readiness plan other than a one-page disaster plan. That soon may change. Last week the…
Residential care facilities for the elderly (RCFE), or assisted living facilities, are typically board and care homes for individuals age 60 or older who can no longer live by themselves, but do not need 24-hour nursing care. Typically, a RCFE will provide a bed, all meals, and assistance with certain…
Elder abuse comes in a variety of forms. The abuse we hear about most frequently is physical abuse, which includes assault, battery, and sexual offenses, and financial abuse, which is usually a matter of fraud or undue influence upon a senior citizen. Both physical and financial abuse are very serous…
Living in a nursing home or assisted living facility continues to get more and more expensive. For a fifth consecutive year, the average annual cost for a private room in a nursing facility rose to $76,460. The costs varied dramatically state by state. The costs for living in an assisted…
Last week President Bush signed into law the Safety of Seniors Act, a bill dedicated to preventing injuries of the elderly inside the home. According to the CDC, one in every three Americans over 65 will suffer a fall their home, and nearly a third of those will require medical…
People frequently ask for a recommendation to a “good” nursing or residential care facility. It’s a question that is difficult to answer, other than to state that the style of the building or the cost of the care is rarely a good indicator of quality of care. I have sued…
Budget cuts proposed by Governor Schwarzenegger could cripple California’s oversight of Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly. Further damage to the already struggling oversight program could put thousands of RCFE residents at risk. According the California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR), the proposed cuts come at a time when…