Senate Panel To Investigate LTC Deaths

My sister investigates medicare fraud for the state of New York, so she deals with a lot of nursing homes. It takes a lot to close down a nursing home, even really bad ones. The residents are medically fragile, and moving hem to another facility tends to stress them out and kill them.

Uniform National Professional Standards
1. Direct-Care Registered Nurse Patient Advocacy — Professional Duty of Patient Advocacy
Professional Obligation and Right; an RN has the professional obligation and therefore the right to act as the patient’s advocate.
Acceptance of Patient Care Assignments; the RN is always responsible for providing competent, safe, therapeutic, and effective nursing care to assigned patients.
Free Speech — Whistleblowing — Patient Protection; all direct-care RNs responsible for patient care in a hospital facility shall enjoy the right of free speech.

2. Minimum, Specific, and Numerical Direct-Care Registered Nurse-to-Patient Staffing Ratios by Clinical Unit for Acute-Care Hospitals (Includes LTAC hospitals)
(a) Unit-specific direct-care RN-to-patient ratios for all shifts at all times.
A patient classification system (PCS) to determine additional staff, based on a National Acuity Tool developed by CMS.

(b) The Direct-Care RN-to-Patient Ratios
Intensive/Critical Care 1:2; Neo-natal Intensive Care 1:2; Operating Room 1:1; Post-anesthesia Recovery 1:2; Labor and Delivery 1:2; Ante partum 1:4; New Born Nursery1:8; Postpartum couplets 1:4; Postpartum women only 1:6; Pediatrics 1:3; Emergency Room 1:3; ICU patients in the ER 1:2; Trauma patients in the ER 1:1; Step Down & Telemetry 1:3; Medical/Surgical 1:5; Other Specialty Care 1:4; Psychiatric 1:4; Rehabilitation Unit & SNF 1:5

(c) Direct-care LV/PN ratios study and its effect on patient care in hospitals.
3. Registered Nurse Workforce InitiativePurpose: achieve immediate short-term mitigation and remedy of the nationwide nursing shortage.
(a) Basic Educational Assistance Benefit & Living Stipend
Creation of an education assistance entitlement program for eligible associate and baccalaureate degree applicants.
(b) Preceptorship and Mentorship Demonstration Project
4. Federal Assistance for the Purchase of Safe Patient Handling Equipment
5. Federal Safe Patient Handling Standards
6. Enforcement
Action by the Secretary; Administrative action. The Secretary shall receive, investigate, and attempt to resolve complaints of violations.
Fines for Violating Employee and Patient Rights; acute-care hospital that violates employee or patient rights under this Act shall be subject to civil penalties — $25,000.00
http://www.calnurses.org/legislative...-shortage.html