In recent years I and many of my friends have ended up in the hospital or a skilled nursing facility without much information about what to do when we get there. We and our families and friends can be faced with having to make quick decisions involving our care, when we have limited knowledge and experience about what to expect.
An excellent way to become more familiar with Skilled Nursing Homes (SNFs), Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly (RCFEs), or even Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs), and your rights if you end up in one, is through California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR). Even if you don’t live in California or even the U.S., you will find their recommendations apply to any nursing facility.
CANHR is a statewide nonprofit 501(3)(c) advocacy organization founded in 1983. It is dedicated to improving the choices, care and quality of life for California citizens. They accomplish this through direct advocacy, community education, legislation and litigation. CANHR’s goal has been “to educate and support long-term care consumers and advocates regarding the rights and remedies under the law, and to create a united voice for long term care reform and humane alternatives to institutionalization.”
CANHR’s website provides current information on long-term care, elder abuse, and our rights under the law. Some of the Fact Sheets provided are as follows: How to Choose a Nursing Home, Nursing Home Facts Sheets, Residential Care for the Elderly Fact Sheets, Community Care Retirement Facts Sheets, Elder Abuse Fact Sheets, CANHR’s Guide to Reverse Mortgage Alternatives, Home and Community Based Services Programs, Legal Issues Fact Sheets, Medi-Cal Estate Planning Fact Sheet.
In addition to community education, CANHR sponsors bills related to senior care. A recently sponsored CANHR bill is SB434 (WAHAB): RCFE Eviction Procedures. This bill would require 60 days’ notice if the resident has lived there more than a year and 90 days’ notice if the resident has lived there more than 2 years. This bill would also require RCFE’s to provide moderate discharge planning to improve the chances of having a safe place to go after eviction. It will also enable fines on RCFE’s who dump their residents without due process and criminal liability for licensees.
Another important CANHR sponsored bill is AB508 (Aguiar-Curry): RCFE Staffing Disclosure. This bill would require RCFE’s to calculate their daily staffing levels, which is already a best practice. They would also be required to share these staffing levels with residents, prospective residents and their families, so they can better understand how much care to expect, compare facilities, and make better choices if choosing facilities. Currently California does not require RCFE’s to have a minimum number of staff and does not collect or report staffing data.
These pending bills may not seem so important until you or someone you know finds themselves in a care facility where call bells are not responded to in a timely manner because of staff shortages or they are being evicted from a care facility without due process and advance planning.
Since 1985, CANHR has successfully litigated resident rights suits against the Department of Public Health and the Department of Health Care Services. This litigation has included the following subjects: the right to informed consent prior to administration of psychotropic drugs, the failure of the Departments to respond to complaints in a timely manner, and failure to provide ownership information on California Nursing Homes.
CANHR v. Chapman, No. RG 1370010. In 19832 an Alameda County Superior Court Judge ruled that nursing homes that give mind-altering drugs to unrepresented residents and withdraw life-sustaining treatment are violating the State Constitution and must stop immediately.
Another important case litigated by CANHR is CANHR v. Dooley in 2015. This Federal lawsuit charged that the State Health and Human Services Department is willfully violating Federal laws that protect against dumping residents into hospitals and refusing to let them return to the Nursing Home primarily to increase profits and make space for more lucrative private pay and Medicare residents.
The CANHR Lawyer Referral Service (LRS) is the only statewide attorney referral service that deals primarily with elder law issues. It has been certified by the California State Bar and does a rigorous screening of the experience and qualifications of all the attorneys recommended.
I could write many more pages on this California nonprofit organization, but my intent is to introduce more people to CANHR’s comprehensive website (https://canhr.org). Fifteen years ago when I started volunteering with senior organizations I learned about CANHR but rarely needed to refer to their website. In the past several years, however, many friends and people I know have experienced unexpected hospitalizations with even more unexpected stays in Skilled Nursing Homes for rehabilitation. It is so important to know your legal rights and understand how the process works so you can make it work for you. Taking a look at the CANHR website is a great way to start.