What the Elder Justice Act Would Do
by: Elizabeth N. Brown Source: AARP Bulletin Today
Elder Justice Act: S 1070 / HR 1783
Federal coordination
Programs
House bill only
http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourworld/law/articles/what_the_elder_justice.html
by: Elizabeth N. Brown Source: AARP Bulletin Today
Elder Justice Act: S 1070 / HR 1783
Federal coordination
- Establish an Elder Justice Coordinating Council of officials from across federal
- recommendations. A panel of elder abuse experts-the Advisory Board on Elder Abuse,
Neglect and Exploitation-would oversee the council.
- Provide $26 million over four years for the creation of stationary and mobile "forensic
centers" where abused elders could receive medical testing and attention. Forensic
centers would also provide therapy and support to victims and review, track and report
elder abuse cases.
Programs
- Provide funding for long-term care facilities to recruit, train and provide incentives to
employees and to establish management programs that promote employee training and
retention.
- Provide funding for long-term care facilities to purchase and set up standardized
electronic medical records programs; require uniform standards be set for the reporting
of records data.
- Create a Consumer Rights Information Web page with a guide to choosing a nursing
facility and information on residents' rights.
- Require the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to report elder abuse (and
other criminal acts) committed by a nursing facility or its employees on its Nursing Home
Compare Medicare website.
- Provide funding and technical assistance for state and local adult protective services
working with elder abuse cases; require HHS to collect and disseminate elder abuse data
from these departments.
- Require HHS to research state and local adult protective services agencies and develop
a best practices guide.
- Provide grants to state long-term care ombudsman programs that respond to and resolve
elder abuse complaints.
- Create a National Training Institute for Federal and State Surveyors to provide training to
nursing facility evaluators on how to detect and report elder abuse.
- Provide grants to state nursing-facility review agencies for designing and implementing
systems that investigate elder abuse complaints quickly and effectively.
- Shorten the time period in which long-term care facilities must report elder abuse crimes
to law enforcement agencies; toughen penalties for long-term care facilities that suspend,
discharge, threaten or harass an employee who reports elder abuse.
House bill only
- Require the U.S. Attorney General's Office and HHS to study state laws and practices
dealing with elder abuse and report the findings to the Elder Justice Coordinating Council.
- Fund research on the needs of elder abuse victims.
- Provide support for local and state prosecutors who handle cases related to elder justice
either by funding individual elder justice units or by creating a Center for the Prosecution
of Elder Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation by the National Association of Attorneys General.
- Allow the Attorney General's Office to establish a resource group to assist prosecutors
across the country who investigate and prosecute elder abuse cases.
- Provide grants for state and local law enforcement agencies that handle elder justice
cases.
- Provide a tax credit for long-term care facility employees.
http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourworld/law/articles/what_the_elder_justice.html
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