The Miami Herald Reports Florida House Majority Leader Carlos Lopez-Cantera To Push for Assisted Living Facility ALF Regulator Punishment
Above: State Representative Carlos Lopez Cantera shows his no vote to an amendment to the House appropriations bill during the 2011 Florida Legislative Session. ( Photo Credit: AP/Coale)
Posted on Wed, Jun. 1, 2011
Lawmakers: Get tough on ALF watchdogs
By Carol Marbin Miller, Michael Sallah and Rob Barrycmarbin@MiamiHerald.com
One of the state’s most powerful lawmakers has proposed punishing agency heads and inspectors who fail to police assisted-living facilities that violate state law.
State Rep. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, House majority leader and head of the Miami-Dade legislative delegation, suggested Wednesday that lawmakers consider “putting teeth into penalties for agency heads that do not follow the law.” His comments were made during a visit by members of the delegation to The Miami Herald editorial board, where lawmakers discussed the successes and shortcomings of the recently concluded session.
“I think it’s appropriate, and we have to take this up as a Legislature,” the Miami Republican said of legislation designed to reform the operation and oversight of ALFs, which were the subject of a recent series of stories called “Neglected to Death” in The Herald. The lawmaker said ALFs had “exploded’’ in many South Florida neighborhoods in recent years, aided by laws that thwart the ability of local governments to restrict land-use and zoning.
Lopez-Cantera said lawmakers also should look at the role of inspectors with the state Agency for Health Care Administration, which regulates ALFs, “to see why they haven’t been doing their jobs.”
The Herald series reported that the state, once lauded for its passage of laws to protect frail elders, has failed to keep pace with the explosive growth of ALFs, slashing both the frequency and number of inspections while failing to punish operators who don’t live up to state standards. The Herald found the state could have sought to close at least 70 homes between 2008 and 2009 for severe violations, including incidents in which elders died at the hands of caregivers, but closed just seven.
The Herald also found that fines against bad homes were routinely decreased, delayed and, in some cases, dropped altogether.
Lopez-Cantera said he would speak with House social service leaders and ask them to review The Herald series and consider joining Senate colleagues in a summertime study of the state’s ALF program and oversight. Last month, Sen. Ronda Storms, a Valrico Republican who heads that chamber’s Children, Families and Elder Affairs Committee, said she will work with Weston Democratic Sen. Nan Rich, to initiate such an interim report.
Rich, the Senate minority leader who attended Wednesday’s editorial board meeting, agreed that lawmakers should consider putting greater pressure on AHCA to hold facilities accountable, saying state law already includes many protections for ALF residents. The greater problem, she said, was the failure of agency heads to enforce the laws.
“There actually are statutes and laws that protect people in ALFs,” Rich said, “but very weak enforcement.”
Lopez-Cantera said he expects lawmakers to iron out the details in the coming months, but he favors legislation that attaches penalties to the misconduct of agency heads and workers.
“When there has been a clear breakdown in the inspector’s job, and the agency’s job, to the extent that they were culpable or negligent, they should be held accountable,’’ Lopez-Cantera said. “If you have an inspector walk into a facility and witness something [wrong] and then turn the other cheek, I would think that would be grounds for prosecution.”
Rep. Jeanette Nunez, a Miami Republican and healthcare executive, said AHCA’s oversight of retirement homes reminded her of the state’s child welfare system, where the state has failed children for years — improving services and oversight only after scandals erupt in the local newspaper. “This is an ongoing problem we have, and it is a cycle,’’ Nunez said.
Rep. Richard Steinberg, a Miami Beach Democrat, criticized his colleagues for supporting legislation, which passed, that limited money damages ALF residents or their families may be awarded if they suffer from abuse or neglect at a retirement home. Steinberg suggested lawmakers were hypocrites for calling for reforms of the troubled homes while making it harder for lawyers to help families that have been harmed.
“We are calling for greater protections on the government side, while on the side of lawyers who protect people, you limit that,” he said.
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