WASHINGTON – Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles "Chuck" Grassley released the following statement regarding the release of a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report detailing problems within nursing homes, including gaps in oversight by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

“The results of this report are disturbing, to say the least. There is no excuse for the ongoing abuse and neglect happening at nursing homes throughout the country. CMS needs to ramp up its oversight efforts and fix the problems identified by the Government Accountability Office. Nearly everyone has a loved one who is either in a nursing home or may be in the coming years. Serious reforms are necessary in order to provide a safe and loving environment for our nation’s seniors.”

Key findings of the GAO report include:

  • Abuse deficiencies cited in nursing homes more than doubled, increasing from 430 in 2013 to 875 in 2017, with the largest increase in severe cases;
  • Physical and mental/verbal abuse occurred most often in nursing homes, followed by sexual abuse, and staff were more often the perpetrators of the abuse deficiencies cited;
  • CMS cannot readily access information on abuse or perpetrator type in its data and, therefore, lacks key information critical to taking appropriate actions;
  • Gaps in CMS processes that can result in delayed and missed referrals; and
  • Insufficient information collected on facility-reported incidents.

The Senate Finance Committee today held a hearing titled “Promoting Elder Justice: A Call for Reform.” The hearing explored proposed reforms to reduce neglect and abuse in nursing homes and group homes, as well as the need to reauthorize key provisions of the Elder Justice Act.

Senator Grassley has been an advocate for seniors throughout his time in Congress, particularly through his oversight work. In 2017, Sen Grassley pressed CMS for answers on why it failed to ensure that nursing home abuse and neglect cases are reported to law enforcement as required, as well as its lack of urgency in responding to an early alert from the agency watchdog on the problem. Sen Grassley also called on social media companies to explore how they could stop users from posting humiliating and demeaning photos of vulnerable individuals after reports surfaced of nursing home workers in at least 18 facilities taking unauthorized photos of elderly residents.

Also in 2017, Sen Grassley introduced the Elder Abuse Prevention and Prosecution Act, which became law. The law enhances enforcement against perpetrators of crimes targeting senior citizens. Specifically, it increases training for federal investigators and prosecutors and calls for the designation of at least one prosecutor in each federal judicial district who will be tasked with handling cases of elder abuse. It also ensures that the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection and the Department of Justice will both have an elder justice coordinator.

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