{"id":6762,"date":"2017-05-26T18:02:39","date_gmt":"2017-05-26T18:02:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=6762"},"modified":"2017-05-26T18:02:39","modified_gmt":"2017-05-26T18:02:39","slug":"bill-aims-to-improve-shamefully-poor-conditions-in-tx-nursing-homes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=6762","title":{"rendered":"Bill Aims to Improve \u201cShamefully Poor\u201d Conditions in TX Nursing Homes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Texas<\/a>

Texas lawmakers are considering tougher penalties for nursing homes that violate state health and safety regulations. Photo: TerryVine\/GettyImages<\/p><\/div>\n

by Mark Richardson<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

AUSTIN, Texas \u2013<\/strong> The Texas Legislature could soon approve a bill to correct dangerous conditions in many of the state\u2019s 1,200 nursing homes.<\/p>\n

Senate Bill 932<\/a>, designed to close loopholes in regulations and strengthen penalties for bad actors, is awaiting a House vote after being approved by the state Senate.<\/p>\n

Its sponsor, Sen. Charles Schwertner, a physician from Georgetown, says studies show that 1 out of 4 Texas long-term care facilities is substandard.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very unfortunate that Texas is ranked the worst of the 50 states regarding the quality of nursing home care,\u201d he states. \u201cI believe it\u2019s time to change that. I take very seriously our obligation to send a very clear and unambiguous message that we\u2019re serious about protecting our most vulnerable citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n

A report by AARP Texas, entitled \u201cIntolerable Care,\u201d<\/a> calls conditions in many nursing homes \u201cshamefully poor,\u201d and identifies thousands of serious health and safety violations.<\/p>\n

Schwertner says the bill would require that the state\u2019s Department of Aging and Disability Services inspect each nursing facility at least once every two years.<\/p>\n

But Schwertner says the biggest improvement the bill would make is to change the \u201cright to correct\u201d rule, which, in theory, allows nursing homes time to fix a violation. In reality, he says it allows substandard conditions, and even abuse and neglect, to continue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bill refines the progressive sanctions on the various types of violations,\u201d he explains. \u201cIf nursing homes continue to violate various provisions of law, they can be fined in an increasing manner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schwertner adds the bill is designed to give families confidence that their loved ones will be safe and well cared for in a nursing home.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople realize they have loved ones \u2013 aunts and uncles, parents and grandparents \u2013 but they themselves could one day be residing in a nursing facility, and they want to make sure that the quality of nursing homes is improved,\u201d he states. \u201cI think that\u2019s a universal, bipartisan issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

The measure is supported by the Texas Health Care Association, which represents the state\u2019s nursing home operators.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Mark Richardson AUSTIN, Texas \u2013 The Texas Legislature could soon approve a bill to correct dangerous conditions in many of the state\u2019s 1,200 nursing homes. Senate Bill 932, designed to close loopholes in regulations and strengthen penalties for bad actors, is awaiting a House vote after being approved by the state Senate. Its sponsor, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6763,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6762"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6764,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6762\/revisions\/6764"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}