Gaps are found in scrutiny of assisted living homes

Report cites vague standards, limited supervision.

WASHINGTON — Federal investigators say they have found huge gaps in the regulation of assisted living facilities, a shortfall they say has potentially jeopardized the care of hundreds of thousands of people served by the booming industry.

The federal government lacks even basic information about the quality of assisted living services provided to low-income people on Medicaid, the Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress, says in a report to be issued Sunday.

Billions of dollars in government spending is flowing to the industry even as it operates under a patchwork of vague standards and limited supervision by federal and state authorities. States reported spending more than $10 billion a year in federal and state funds for assisted living services for more than 330,000 Medicaid beneficiaries, an average of more than $30,000 a person, the Government Accountability Offic`e found in a survey of states.

States are supposed to keep track of cases involving the abuse, neglect, exploitation or unexplained death of Medicaid beneficiaries in assisted living facilities. But, the report said, more than half the states were unable to provide information on the number or nature of such cases.

Just 22 states were able to provide data on “critical incidents — cases of potential or actual harm.”

In one year, those states reported a total of more than 22,900 incidents, including the physical, emotional or sexual abuse of residents.

Titled “Improved Federal Oversight of Beneficiary Health and Welfare Is Needed,” it grew out of a two-year study requested by a bipartisan group of four senators.

Nothing in the report disputes the fact that some assisted living facilities provide high-quality, compassionate care.

The National Center for Assisted Living, a trade group for providers, said states already had “a robust oversight system” to ensure proper care for residents.

In the last two years, it said, several states, including California, Oregon, Rhode Island and Virginia, have adopted laws to enhance licensing requirements and penalties for poor performance.

But the new report casts a harsh light on federal oversight, concluding that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has provided “unclear guidance” to states and done little to monitor their use of federal money for assisted living.

As a result, it said, the federal health care agency “cannot ensure states are meeting their commitments to protect the health and welfare of Medicaid beneficiaries receiving assisted living services, potentially jeopardizing their care.”

In 1987, Congress adopted a law that strengthened the protection of nursing home residents’ rights, imposed dozens of new requirements on homes and specified the services they must provide.