You – or your legal representative – have the right to review your medical records whenever you wish.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, better known as HIPPA, was passed to protect all of us. It ensures that our medical records stay between us and our medical providers unless we give written permission for someone else to see them. HIPPA is designed to give us control over our medical records. Continue reading
It is a horrifying fact that more than 31 percent of nursing home residents suffer from malnutrition and dehydration, according to a 2000 study by the National Citizens Coalition for Nursing Home Reform.
This means that the possibility of your loved one suffering from malnutrition and dehydration while in a nursing home rivals that of people struggling to survive in the Third World. Continue reading
Where once nursing homes residents were restrained by leather bonds or cloth ties, many nursing home staff are now relying on chemicals to sedate and to control residents.
A May 2011 United States Department of Health and Human Services study by the Office of the Inspector General found that 305,000 (about 14%) nursing home residents had Medicare claims for atypical antipsychotic drugs. Of these, about 1 in 5 residents were prescribed antipsychotics in a manner that violated government standards. For example, they may be given for too long a time or in too high a dose. Continue reading
As part of the Health Care Reform Bill (often called Obama Care), passed in March 2010, The Elder Justice Act requires long-term care facilities that received at least $10,000 in federal funds the previous year to self-report nursing home elder abuse. Continue reading