Wyden, Warren, Gillibrand Urge Expanded Investigation into State Oversight of Care Provided to Seniors in Assisted Living Facilities
Ranking Members of Senate Finance, Banking, and Aging committees say a new report is needed for “a stronger understanding of why assisted living facilities were so rarely held accountable for neglecting the safety of their residents”
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) today demanded a new investigation into the quality of care provided at assisted living facilities to establish whether the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and state Medicaid agencies have improved their ability to protect hundreds of thousands of seniors and people with disabilities in assisted living facilities that participate in Medicaid.
“A new GAO report could provide legislators and the American public with a stronger understanding of why assisted living facilities were so rarely held accountable for neglecting the safety of their residents,” the senators wrote the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
In 2018, GAO reported on this issue, revealing that the majority of state Medicaid agencies did not track serious health and safety issues at assisted living facilities participating in Medicaid. The report also found state agencies defined critical incidents in different ways, limiting the collection of information. GAO concluded that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services may be unaware of widespread problems affecting Medicaid beneficiaries at assisted living facilities due to a lack of clear federal guidance on reporting issues.
Since this initial report, The Washington Post revealed that since 2018, thousands of assisted living residents have “wandered away…or been left unattended for hours outside,” leading to nearly 100 documented deaths and even more residents unaccounted for as a result of “failures by administrators and front-line caregivers” to prevent these incidents.
“Given GAO’s previous findings on the need for improved oversight of assisted living facilities, and new findings about residents’ health and safety, we request that GAO provide an update on this issue,” concluded the senators.
The lawmakers asked for details into the GAO’s investigation, highlighting how oversight of the facilities has changed since the 2018 report, what deficiencies and critical incidents have been identified at the facilities in recent years, how the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is implementing the updated monitoring and reporting requirements for state Medicaid programs, and what additional oversight in these facilities is necessary.
Wyden is the Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee. Warren is the Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee. Gillibrand is the Ranking Member of the Senate Aging Committee.
Full text of the letter is here.
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