How in the world did Florida slip from being a virtual magnet for this nation’s seniors looking to spend their golden years in “paradise” to a place where the most frail among them can be abused and neglected -- to death -- in assisted living facilities charged with their care? Worse, for years the state has practically given the worst facilities its blessing.
A Miami-Dade County Grand Jury report nails it: Simply, responsibility for the safety and well-being of ALF residents sits solidly with the state Agency for Health Care Administration. Therefore, it must step in and step up enforcement -- and not just ensure that ALFs comply with the dry rules and regulations.
The grand jury, following The Miami Herald’s investigative series, “Neglected to Death,” about lax oversight of the state’s almost 3,000 ALFs, wants AHCA to see this as a flesh-and-blood issue that demands its rapid and steady intervention to protect the most vulnerable residents. “By failing to take action, or even by taking action in an untimely manner, AHCA may be unwittingly putting other residents at risk of harm,” the grand jury states.
After The Miami Herald’s first report in May, AHCA closed some of the worst offenders among the state’s ALFs. Still, it’s as if the agency were only temporarily shamed into stepping up enforcement instead of making deep changes in how it conducts business.
After all, AHCA repeatedly told the grand jury that it is “not in the business of closing facilities.” Which begs the question: Is it in the business of winking at abusers, instead?
Had AHCA -- along with lawmakers seduced by ALF lobbyists -- responded swiftly to a decade of complaints about abusive facilities, the Hillandale ALF in New Port Richey might never have tolerated violence among residents and staff, two rapes and the death of an elderly resident -- a death that AHCA itself attributed to caregiver neglect. Even then, shamefully, AHCA responded with a slap until this year.
The grand jury, too, wants stepped-up inspections -- annually, as opposed to every other year -- and a greater role for the state’s Long-term Care Ombudsman Program. Volunteer ombudsmen perform crucial ALF inspections. The Legislature needs to change the law to ensure annual inspections and a viable ombudsman program. Ombudsmen have been systematically defanged, their ability to conduct wide-ranging inspections curtailed, the most vocal among them dismissed or forced to resign. The state’s top ombudsman, Jim Crochet, seems to be turning this needed group of watchdogs into a kennel of lapdogs.
This is exactly the opposite of what needs to happen. As the grand jury noted: “Revoke the licenses. Impose the fines. Hit the offenders where it hurts most, in their pockets.”
That’s what it will take to save lives and protect Florida’s elderly and disabled.
