David Cearlock's blog

In reference to:

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2008/03/24/medicaid_cuts_hurt_champaign_county 

I heard these cuts were coming about a month and a half ago when there were rumors of layoffs at the CCNH. However, the nursing home administrator Andrew denied any potential layoffs in an email. These cuts should not have been a shock to the nursing home or the county. The new formula for calculating Medicaid rates has been public for some time now for anyone to see.  Again the County Board has shown us all why government has no business running a medical facility. They over pay for a new facility when despite what they tell you the old facility could have been repaired and upgraded much more cost effectively than building a new one. Naturally the building of the new facility has all kinds of problems because again the County Board was in charge. The county will now be forced to do one of the following raise taxes, cut services or the only sensible thing which is to privatize the nursing home.

Here is hoping that our elected officials on the County Board suddenly got sensible.

In 2004 there was a sexual assault complaint against one of the Champaign County Nursing Home employees and the possible victim was a female resident. I was trying to find out if any criminal charges were ever filed but I was unable to locate any court records regarding this assault. That doesn't mean there aren't any but only that I couldn't find them. However, it was serious enough that the nursing home  terminated the Nursing Supervisor over the matter.This may be old news to some of you but I would wager that there are just as many people who have never heard this story. I have uploaded the official document detailing this attack to http://www.davidcearlock.com/champaign/11.17.04b.pdf . While reading this report I want you to ask yourself one question. For every reported sexual assault how many go unreported?

B is for Business made the following comment on my previous post  "I wonder why anyone would think it's acceptable to co-mingle personal funds with the county operational fund. It sounds like we need an experienced auditor to implement some common sense financial controls. : )"

Well, not only was the decision to co-mingle the personal funds of the Champaign County Nursing Home with the County's Operational Fund completely lacking in common sense but it is also illegal. (See the Below excerpt from the Nursing Home Care Act. ) The complaint that I uploaded to http://www.davidcearlock.com/champaign/Champaign%20031507.pdf clearly shows that the Champaign County Nursing Home was in violation of this law as recently as March 2007. I have emailed (ccnh@co.champaign.il.us) the nursing home and inquired as to what steps they have taken to bring them into compliance with the law regarding this issue and I have yet to receive a response.

++UPDATE++

I just received a response less than an hour ago. Andrew Buffenbarger, stated in his reply that and I quote "Resident funds are safe and secure in the Resident Trust Fund. I am happy to report the inspectors found that every penny of resident funds was accounted for. We simply had to change our practice in how we recognized those funds separately from County general funds, get a software upgrade so the statements showed each transaction, and be more diligent in the frequency of our trust fund reconciliations."

I am pleased that the County Nursing Home took action on this matter and is now in compliance with the law. However, this is just one of many issues that need discussion.

(210 ILCS 45/) Nursing Home Care Act.

PART 2. RESPONSIBILITIES

    (6) Shall keep any funds received from a resident for safekeeping in an account separate from the facility's funds, and shall at no time withdraw any part or all of such funds for any purpose other than to return the funds to the resident upon the request of the resident or any other person entitled to make such request, to pay the resident his allowance, or to make any other payment authorized by the resident or any other person entitled to make such authorization.
 
    (7) Shall deposit any funds received from a resident in excess of $100 in an interest bearing account insured by agencies of, or corporations chartered by, the State or federal government. The account shall be in a form which clearly indicates that the facility has only a fiduciary interest in the funds and any interest from the account shall accrue to the resident. The facility may keep up to $100 of a resident's money in a non‑interest bearing account or petty cash fund, to be readily available for the resident's current expenditures.

This post first appeared in the open thread for 12/26/2007 but I thought it was worth re-posting.

The primary goal of the County Board as far as the County Nursing Home is concerned should be to provide the highest level of care to those most in need of that care. However, as you can see by the list of complaints against the Champaign County Nursing home that I have included below , the current care is severely lacking. Ralph Langenheim stated that the lack of action on the topic of the nursing home is because of the need for a majority on the board and that problem is the "essence of the democratic process". He is correct that a majority is required and that is typical of the democratic process. However, that is precisely why no government body has any business running any type of medical facility. While the board is talking and negotiating their way to a majority the people requiring care  are being neglected and are suffering. I would urge the board to realize that the natural inefficiencies of government are hurting the very people they are seeking to help and move to the logical conclusion that privatizing the Champaign County Nursing Home will provide the best care to the people in need and the best value to the community.
 

DATE   COMPLAINT VIOLATIONS: CONFIRMED

07/07/2004 - Protect each resident from all abuse, physical punishment, and being separated from others.

07/07/2004 - 1) Hire only people who have no legal history of abusing, neglecting or mistreating residents; or 2) report and investigate any acts or reports of abuse, neglect or mistreatment of residents.

01/17/2006 - Make sure that the nursing home area is free of dangers that cause accidents.

04/04/2006 - Provide services to meet the needs and preferences of each resident.

04/26/2006 - Make sure that the nursing home area is free of dangers that cause accidents.

06/01/2006 - 1) Hire only people who have no legal history of abusing, neglecting or mistreating residents; or 2) report and investigate any acts or reports of abuse, neglect or mistreatment of residents.

11/08/2006 - Have a program to keep infection from spreading.

01/05/2007 - Make sure that residents who cannot care for themselves receive help with eating/drinking, grooming and hygiene.

01/05/2007 - Give residents proper treatment to prevent new bed (pressure) sores or heal existing bed sores.

02/07/2007 - Make sure that the nursing home area is free of dangers that cause accidents.

04/30/2007 - Make sure that residents are safe from serious medication errors.

04/30/2007 - Provide food in a way that meets a resident's needs.

 These complaints where gathered from http://www.memberofthefamily.net/uscompl/il.htm#145571