Politics And Florida Office Of Ombudsman...Does Industry Hold Too Much Sway?

Posted on March 10, 2011 by John R Kormanik

I found a story in today's Tampa Bay Online (Florida) interesting, disturbing and, unfortunately, unsurprising. According to the article, Brian Lee, Florida's long term care ombudsman resigned after "butting heads" with Florida's new governor, Rick Scott. Mr. Lee indicated the "last straw" which lead to his forced resignation was a letter he sent out to Florida's nursing homes "directing them to submit information on their ownership, as permitted under the new federal health care legislation." This is a contentious issue because, according to critics of the nursing home industry, "facilities are often broken into multiple businesses to make lawsuits against them more difficult."

Florida's ombudsman program is funded, in part, by the federal government. Idaho's Commission's on Aging's ombudsman's program receives similar funding. The federal government is looking into Mr. Lee's situation; a representative of the federal government is quoted as stating: "We expect that Florida will make every effort to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest" in the appointment of a new ombudsman.

In Idaho, the Ombudsman is hired by the administrator of the Idaho commission on aging. Currently, Ms. Kim Toryanski is the administrator of the commission. Ms. Toryanski was appointed by the governor, and confirmed by the state senate.

Let's hope the Idaho ombudsman program is not politicized. The Ombudsman serves as a critical advocate for those who need it the most, residents of long-term care facilities and persons 60 years' or older living in the community.

Do you have questions about the Idaho ombudsman? Submit them to me and I will try to find answers and post them in the future on this blog.

 

 

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Idaho's Ombudsman's Program Is Staffed Better Than Oregon's - Should You Feel Safer?

Posted on January 3, 2011 by John R Kormanik

In an article on the Oregonian's website, Julie Sullivan  laments the state of Oregon's Ombudsman's program. According to Ms. Sullivan, Oregon's ombudsman program has only one paid employee for every 6,692 long-term care facility beds. That is not good. Ms. Sullivan's article got me wondering how Idaho fairs in this arena.

One of the very first posts on this blog was about the Idaho Commission on Aging's Ombudsman program. If you recall, an Ombudsman is a person appointed by the Idaho Commission on Aging to investigate complaints concerning your care in either a Nursing Home or an Assisted Living Facility. The Ombudsman will insure your health, safety, welfare and rights are protected. You can contact the Ombudsman free of charge 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

According to the most recent survey available, the 2008 National Ombudsman Report, Idaho has one paid employee for every 1,054 long-term care facility beds. Although this is certainly better than Oregon, some changes apparently loom on the horizon for Idaho's Ombudsman's program. According to Ms. Sullivan, Oregon's Ombudsman's program is slated to loose two-thirds of its federal funding due to a scheduled change in the Medicare law. Idaho's Ombudsman program receives approximately 93.5% of its funding from the federal government. Given the state of the economy, it is highly unlikely any cut in federal funding will be replaced on a dollar-for-dollar basis by the state government. Idaho nursing home and assisted living facility residents may be in a much worse position in the coming year.

At the end of the day, making sure nursing home and assisted facility residents are safe is a full-time job. If you visit a family member, friend or loved-one at a facility, make sure their roommate or neighbor is doing alright. Unfortunately, an Ombudsman may not be around to do so.

 

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