Sad Commentary on Long-Term Care....

St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Robert Patrick blogs about the Cathedral Rock plea that, “…the companies will be sentenced in April, likely to some term of probation in addition to fines and penalties. Corporations cannot be sentenced to prison.” Even more amazing are its 22 reader comments, most of them reflective of myths and old ideas about long-term care facilities. One person wrote, “Man, I bet that those places stunk! Old folks’ homes, or deaths waiting rooms, smell bad even when people are following all the rules.”  This comment, and others like it, reflect not only on Cathedral Rock but also on all long-term care companies.

The public is very ready to believe the worst about long-term healthcare and bad news like the Cathedral Rock story hit the industry hard. As is often said, trust is built over years and destroyed in five minutes.

This is sad because in actuality long-term care provides an extremely valuable and necessary service to society. It is part of the healthcare continuum and for the most part, the thousands of facilities and their operators and staff in this nation provide excellent quality of care and a high quality of life for the people they serve. The industry has changed rapidly in the past decades and has professionalized greatly. It is unfortunate that the public’s appetite for horror out of long-term care is fed once again.

Several of the comments about Cathedral Rock picked up on the fact that, as Patrick put it, “Corporations cannot be sentenced to prison.” Those who commented want to see individuals personally punished for these crimes against seniors. Indeed, it is easy to follow this logic. It should be understood, though, that in long-term healthcare there are other options that Patrick did not mention, such as being permanently barred from participation in Federal and State reimbursement programs. The perpetrator’s name is added to exclusion lists maintained by the Office of the Inspector General and accessible to the general public.

Companies and individuals who are seeking services can search these lists to see if the provider they are considering has been involved in some wrongdoing. Companies and individuals who are listed cannot receive government monies, even in the form of salary or payment. Many long-term care facilities check all new hires and contractors against these lists to ensure that they do not employ or use the services of anyone or any company on the exclusions lists. This at least prevents those who are convicted of criminal offenses in the provision of healthcare from repeating their offenses.