Schwarzenegger Pushes to Keep Violent Felons Out of Home Care

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called on state lawmakers to enact legislation that would prevent violent felons from caring for ailing residents in California home health care programs.

Schwarzenegger said in his letter to Senate and Assembly leaders that current rules that keep the department from rejecting caregiver candidates with criminal records represent a grave threat to the safety of home care recipients.

“Choosing to protect these felons over the vulnerable beneficiaries in this program is akin to releasing violent felons from prison and sending them straight into a nursing home on a work-release program,” the governor wrote.

“We are allowing these people into the homes of vulnerable individuals without supervision,” said John Wagner, director of the state Department of Social Services. “It is dangerous. These are serious convictions.”

State and county investigators have not reported violent crime backgrounds because program rules allow felons to work as home care aides. They can only be disqualified if there’s a history of specific types of child abuse, elder abuse or defrauding of public assistance programs.

Privacy laws prevent warning elderly, infirm and disabled residents that caregivers are felons.

Some 996 convicted felons have been identified as working or seeking jobs in the program since background checks started last year. Some 786 of them were removed or declared ineligible, but the rest are expected to be employed in the program, state Social Services said.

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Calif. Gov Wants New Home Health Hiring Laws

Daughter Happy to Care for 101 Year-Old Mom

They sit side-by-side on a sofa in a Wauwatosa home, the daughter who is 60, the mother who is 101.

“God’s grace,” the daughter says. “I do believe he’s sustaining her. We’re learning a lot of lessons about kindness and patience.”

For nearly nine years, Dorothy “Dotty” Williams has been the principal caregiver for her mom, Margaret “Margie” Hunt Dunn.

It’s a story of love and faith. And it’s not all that unusual – family members and friends provide the bulk of care for older adults in America.

Last week, at Wilson Park Senior Center, Williams testified during a field hearing of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging. She spoke movingly about her mom and caregiving, about the benefits of caring for someone you love so much, but also, about the emotional toll it can take.

Many in the crowd applauded. They knew, from firsthand experience, what Williams was going through.

Dunn has dementia. Two years ago, carrying her plate from the patio to the kitchen, she fell and broke her hip. Emergency surgery saved her life. She celebrated her 99th birthday in a hospital bed.

What’s often lost in this society-wide tale of age and mortality is this: Caregivers need help, too; moments to shop, to take in a movie, to go for medical appointments, even to go out on a date with a spouse.

The National Family Caregiver Support Program has provided Williams with help, a small amount of money for what’s known as respite care, to bring in someone else to watch a loved one for a few hours. In Milwaukee County, the program is administered through the Family Caregiver Support Network at Interfaith Older Adult Programs Inc.

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Daughter Happy to Care for Mom, 101, Despite Challenges for Both

CA: State Can’t Exclude Felons From Providing In-Home Care

An Alameda County judge blocked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger from excluding convicted felons and shoplifters from providing in-home care in a program that serves 430,000 low-income elderly and disabled Californians.

Superior Court Judge David Hunter had ruled in February that Schwarzenegger’s action was illegal because state law bars workers from the program for 10 years only if they have been convicted of child abuse, elder abuse or defrauding Medi-Cal or any patient.

In-home patients, who have access to their caregivers’ criminal records, can otherwise employ anyone they want, the judge said.

Schwarzenegger, acting by executive order, is seeking to bar from the program anyone ever convicted of a felony or certain misdemeanors, which include shoplifting. After appealing Hunter’s ruling in May, the governor had planned to implement his restrictions.

The state’s appeal automatically suspended Hunter’s decision but allowed the judge to reinstate it if he concluded that the new limits on caregivers would cause irreparable harm. Hunter made that finding, saying both caregivers and their patients would suffer if the governor’s rules took effect during his appeal.

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State Can’t Exclude Felons From In-Home Care

Direct Care Workforce Empowerment Act

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey said he believes direct care workers such as home care aides and nursing assistants often do not get the pay and respect they deserve for the work they do.

Casey plans to introduce legislation in the Senate aimed at ensuring home care workers receive the federal minimum wage and overtime protections under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The legislation, called the Direct Care Workforce Empowerment Act, would establish a grant program to help states improve recruitment, retention and training for direct care workers who typically receive less than minimum wage for working long hours.

“The direct care workforce provides most of the care for our loved ones. They help every day of the week,” Casey said. “It is our responsibility to make sure these jobs are personally rewarding and provide an opportunity for advancement.”

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Casey Calls for Fair Pay for Home Care Workers

Editorial: The Future of Aging

On July 18, the Washington Post had a wonderful article about the reunion of an 85 year old daughter with her 110 year old mother who lives in D.C. This reunion is the result of the “Medical House Call Program” at Washington Hospital Center.

The program’s staff, which includes physicians, nurse practitioners, and social workers, provides compassionate and skilled primary health care to elders in the comfort of their homes.

Dr. Eric De Jonge, a physician who works in the program, presented on the Independence at Home Act, which was included in this year’s health care reform law, at our Futures of Aging Services Conference this year.

The Independence at Home provision will help providers replicate this “medical house call” program model throughout the country. The program gives incentives for physicians to improve quality of care and reduce costs.

It also increases physician-patient interaction through regular assessments and patient/caregiver education on treating a chronic disease. It is obvious from the article that Dr. De Jonge has a special positive relationship with his 110 year old patient.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) are encouraging the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to implement the Independence at Home (IAH) program.

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<a href="
http://futureofaging.aahsa.org/2010/07/independence-at-home-provision-will-help-providers-replicate-%E2%80%9Cmedical-house-call-program%E2%80%9D/”>Independence at Home Provision Will Help Providers Replicate “Medical House Call Program”

Caregiver Arrested for Theft

Erma Jean Williams, 58, is accused of taking vacations, remodeling her home and buying a car – all at the expense of Marian McGlone, the 90-year-old woman she was caring for.

“This lady took advantage of two really good people. My dad and step-mom. They were really good people,” said step-son Robert McGlone.

Investigators say over a period of two years, Williams took control of McGlone’s estate.

The NBC2 Investigators obtained video taken at an attorney’s office. It documents the second to last time Williams tried to get Marian to change her will, just two weeks before she died.

The brothers say the video proves their mother was being taken advantage of.

“It shows she didn’t know why she was there, how she got there, she didn’t even remember our father’s name,” said Ronald McGlone.

Due to worries that McGlone wasn’t competent, the will wasn’t changed that day. But the sheriff’s report shows four days later, Williams brought McGlone back to the office.

At that time the will was changed, leaving half of McGlone’s trust to Williams.

McGlone died two weeks later.

Investigators say in the end, Williams stole more than $200,000 from the family.

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Caregiver Arrested for Stealing Money From Elderly Woman

For Elderly KY Couple, Help at Home Was a Nightmare

In failing health but determined to stay in their Jeffersontown home, Hans and Martha Rau turned several years ago to a personal service business for help with daily needs, including bathing, dressing and housekeeping.

But over a period of 12 months, the couple said, their paid helpers twice defrauded and exploited them.

Tens of thousands of dollars in cash, jewelry and valuables were stolen, including gold bands the couple exchanged before their 1948 wedding, according to the Raus’ report to police.

And the workers — who by law are not authorized to dispense medication — sometimes mixed the couples’ painkillers, overmedicating Martha Rau.

“It was terrible,” said Hans Rau, 83, a former teacher who has severe arthritis and Parkinson’s disease.

“A lot of things that were stolen were treasures to me,” said Martha Rau, 81, who has arthritis and dementia.

While the 2009 General Assembly passed a law requiring personal service businesses to be certified with the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, it provides little oversight and few avenues for sanctions.

“It’s pretty lame,” said the Raus’ son, Tom Rau of Jacksonville, Fla. “It needs more oversight.”

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For Elderly Couple, Help at Home Was a Nightmare

In-Home Supportive Services Probe Yields 19 Felony Cases

A task force established to ferret out fraud in Sacramento County’s extensive network of In-Home Supportive Services has turned up 19 felony cases in its first four months, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

Those cases account for an alleged $315,000 in overpayments among 42,000 caregivers and clients.

“We believe as long as IHSS is in existence, there will always be fraud,” said Assistant Chief Deputy District Attorney Laura Green, who’s in charge of the district attorney’s Stop Target Offenders Program unit, which includes the multiagency task force.

A grand jury report last summer found that along with costs and enrollment increasing, fraud was growing in the county’s IHSS program, which helps the disabled and frail elderly continue living independently in their own homes. The Governor’s Office has claimed a 25 percent statewide fraud rate in IHSS.

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Sacramento County Probe of In-Home Care Turns up 19 Felony Cases

CA: Sacramento County In-Home Care in Jeopardy

About 22,000 low-income elderly and disabled Sacramento County residents are in the middle of a fight over state finances.

As part of his budget plan, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed eliminating IHSS, the state’s fastest growing social services program, which pays caregivers to help the disabled and the frail elderly.

With the graying of the population, IHSS enrollment has soared, and so has its price. Founded in 1973, the program serves 400,000 Californians and will cost an estimated $1.5 billion this year.

Sacramento County spent $23.5 million on the program in 2009, up from $5.9 million in 2001.

Last year the governor also proposed eliminating the program, but a political and legal fight instead resulted in deep cuts.

With more cuts, or the program’s elimination, on the horizon, administrators are scrambling to find alternatives. So far they’ve found none.

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California’s Proposed In-Home Care Cutoff Leaves Few Options

MI Urged to Require Licensing for Health Aides

The need for greater consumer protection and quality service is prompting the Michigan Home Health Association to develop and promote state licensing requirements for all providers of home care. The legislation also would require staff qualifications, training and criminal background checks.

Home health care is an important key to independence for those who are ill, disabled or elderly. Home health aide employment is expected to grow 49% to more than 1.1 million workers nationally by 2016, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. These workers experience heavy turnover, do physically demanding work and usually earn meager wages.

Some of these aides will assist some of the approximately 1.9 million people with disabilities statewide or the nearly 1.2 million people in southeast Michigan projected to be 65 or older by 2035.

The number of home health agencies certified in Michigan has grown from 198 in fiscal year 2003 to 514 as of Sept. 1. There are an unknown number of agencies that are not certified. The federal government has guidelines for aides whose employers receive reimbursement for Medicare and some states require aides to be licensed.

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Safety Fears Grow With Demand for Home Care