• 23
  • August
    2011

As state budgets all across the nation are minimized, home health care programs are often among the first services slashed. Home health care can be an easy target: it is not mandatory under federal law, lacks support from major special interest groups and is perceived as rife with fraud.

However, every reduction in home health care spending means more Americans are forced into nursing homes. As nursing homes face overcrowding and inadequate staffing brought on by budget cuts, the potential for abuse and neglect increases substantially.

Pushing Patients into Nursing Homes

Medicaid is a program jointly funded by individual state governments and the federal government which provides medical treatment and care for low income individuals. While Medicaid draws funds from both state and federal coffers, it is administered solely by state authorities.

While states typically must subsidize nursing home services through Medicaid, there is no such requirement for home care. Even though home health care programs are generally cheaper to operate than nursing homes, they involve upfront costs that states have great discretion in supporting or eliminating.

Some nursing homes are already feeling the crunch as more and more patients are admitted who, but for budget constraints, would be receiving care at home; the fastest growing age demographic is actually younger patients between 31 and 64, who now represent some 14 percent of nursing home residents.

Abuse and Neglect Concerns

Although elder abuse is dramatically underreported, as many as 10 percent of older Americans are estimated to have been abused within a care setting.

Research indicates that rates of abuse and neglect increase when overcrowding becomes an issue. Overcrowding means more strain on employees, less effective managerial supervision and an increased number of residents who are at risk for negligent care. Furthermore, lower staff to resident ratios coupled with budget reductions means poorer quality staff training, a factor also correlated with a higher risk of neglect and abuse.

Seniors and disabled individuals already suffer harm at the hands of caregivers at an unacceptable rate. Unfortunately, due to impending cuts to home health care services, the odds of your loved one suffering nursing home abuse or neglect are unlikely to go anywhere but up.