Nursing Home Abuse News

Texas Department Of Aging Will Continue As Separate Agency Until 2006

Texas senior citizens who utilize Texas Department of Aging (TDOA) services will be pleased that TDOA will continue as a separate agency until September 1, 2006, as a result of a bill the Legislature passed during our regular session this year

TDOA and its Area Agencies on Aging (AAA) have provided services to Texas seniors for 20 years. A bill the Legislature passed in 1999 would have abolished TDOA as a state agency and transferred its services and functions to a new Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services by 2004.

Many senior organizations, including the Silver-Haired Legislature, objected to the merger. We listened to those objections and passed Senate Bill 535, retaining TDOA as a single agency.

Statewide AAAs, including those in Senate District 25, will continue to provide services such as meals on wheels, benefits counseling, home health care, transportation, Medicaid case management and, as a result of House Bill 1420, expanded legal assistance. Senate Bill 535 and House Bill 1420 were among the many bills we passed to benefit senior citizens who comprise 14 percent of the state's population. That percentage will increase rapidly as baby boomers retire, until by 2026 almost 23 percent, or about one in four Texans, will be 60 or older.

An aging population will place more demands on the nursing home industry, which currently is in crisis. Liability insurance rates are increasing while insurance availability is decreasing and lawsuit settlements are growing. Senate Bill 1839 is our effort to improve long-term care facilities by addressing issues such as quality of care, insurance rates and damage awards, while House Bill 154 increases the nursing home needs allowance.

The long-term care facility crisis has a rippling effect that impacts overworked care givers who may neglect or even abuse seniors. Reports of elderly abuse, neglect and exploitation have increased by 267 percent in the last 10 years, according to Adult Protective Services.

We passed bills that will help protect seniors from both physical and fiscal abuse. House Bill 1418 amends the Health and Safety Code to allow personnel at long-term care facilities to obtain criminal history information from the Department of Public Safety. In addition, it prohibits a facility from employing anyone convicted of certain felonies, such as theft, sexual assault and injury to a child, elderly or a disabled person.

Other bills safeguard seniors from fiscal exploitation. House Bill 1883 requires an attorney to inform the principal of all actions taken pursuant to the signing of a power of attorney and to do so in a timely manner, while House Bill 1813 allows an attorney to be criminally prosecuted for misapplication of fiduciary property.

We also passed bills to curb unscrupulous telemarketers who annually bilk an estimated $40 billion from consumers, and who target seniors.

These bills and others will help ensure a better quality of life for the senior citizens whose contributions helped make Texas the kind of state where young people want to raise their families and seniors want to retire.

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	Did You Know?
	There are causes of nursing home abuse. Stressful working conditions, particularly staff shortages, staff burnout and inadequate staff training are some of the factors that can lead to nursing home abuse.