By Larry Gage
The New York Times reported that the Trump administration is waiving regulations that would cost nursing homes $2.1 billion in annual costs to allow them to undertake a “bulk up” of renovations in order to better equip them to care for residents.
Why has this “bulk up” been underfunded for so long? It’s because residential nursing homes face lawsuits a lot—i.e., it costs an awful lot of money to fight those suits.
Nursing home administrators may have an incentive to cheat the law by installing unnecessary, inappropriate or outdated equipment.
Simple upgrades might include new air conditioners, perhaps installed in the bedroom rather than the hallways, in order to improve a patient’s comfort and mobility.
Yet New York’s attorney general has complained that many of the nation’s 2,200 nursing homes are poorly equipped to protect residents from the heat.
So it’s understandable that the Trump administration might jump on the opportunity to put more money into the arms of these facilities—helping them be more efficient while improving their abilities to house people in their comfort zone, while maintaining, of course, the highest possible standards of personal hygiene and health.
Click for more from Watchdog.org