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Christian & Davis, LLC has a long history of helping injured people receive compensation from those at fault for their injuries. We have a decades-long tradition of assisting injury victims in their fight against well-funded insurance companies and the wrongdoers they protect. Christian & Davis focuses on personal injury law, medical malpractice, workers compensation (on the job injuries), nursing home abuse and neglect, injuries caused by defective products, social security disability, insurance claims, wrongful injury and death claims, truck and automobile accidents, and disability-related labor and employment issues. We also represent the victims of fraud, misrepresentation and unfair trade practices by businesses. Please visit our website at www.christiandavislaw.com. Our blog attempts to inform readers in all areas that affect our practice and the clients we represent. This often includes information and developments in the areas of justice, case law, new legislation, the court system, politics, and other issues of interest and concern. We hope you will find our blog interesting, informative, and helpful.
In a recent survey taken by Genworth Financial, the 2009 Cost of Care Survey found that the cost of care is still on te rise, especailly on the east and west coasts. The average growth rate in mosts states range from 2% to 7%, however in some area's the rate is as much as 24%. The lowest cost of care in the country belongs to Texas at $46K a year, and the Highest belongs to Alaska at $188K a year, to take care of your loved ones. Here in South Carolina we are currently at an average of $64K a year, and this is where you need to pay attention, if you are a baby boomer and will possibly be living in an assisted living facility in the next 20 years, your cost of care will be $170K a year, based on average growth of the industry in this area. Weather you are putting money away for retirement or vacation or anything else, you may want to reconsider your savings toward your cost of living incase you have assisted living facility/nursing home needs. Go to www.genworth.com to learn more about the rising cost of assisted living facilities and nursing homes.
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The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has proposed a recall of 14 Hydroxycut products. There have been 23 reports of seious health problems ranging from elevated enzymes and jaundice, early indicators of liver injury, to liver damage requiring a liver transplant. One death has been reported to the FDA due to liver failure from use of a Hydroxycut product. Although rare, liver injury has been reported by patients at the recommended doses on the Hydroxycut bottle. Jaundice (yellowing of the skin or whites of the eyes) and brown urine, nausea, vomiting, light-colored stools, excessive fatigue, weaknss, stomach or abdominal pain, itching and loss of appetite, are all signs of possible liver injury. Even though liver injury issues are rare, they do exist. If you do experience these symptoms while using Hydroxycut you should consult your healthcare profssional. Hydroxycut products are dietary supplements that are marketed as weightlossfat burning, energy enhancers, and low carb diet aids. They also assist in water loss under th Iovate and MuscleTech brand names. The Products being recalled are: - Hydroxycut Regular Rapid Release Caplets
- Hydroxycut Caffeine-Free Rapid Realease Caplets
- Hydroxycut Hardcore Liquid Caplets
- Hydroxycut Max Liquid Caplets
- Hydroxycut Regular Drink Packets
- Hydroxycut Caffeine-Free Drink Packets
- Hydroxycut Hardcore Drink Packets (Ignition Stix)
- Hydroxycut Max Drink Packets
- Hydroxycut Liquid Shots
- Hydroxycut Hardcore RTDs (Ready-To-Drink)
- Hydroxycut Max Aqua Shed
- Hydroxycut 24
- Hydroxycut Carb Control
- Hydroxycut Natural
Products Not Effected by Recall: - Hydroxycut Cleanse
- Hoodia Products
If you currently have any of the Hydroxycut products affected by the recall you are asked to stop using them immediately and return them to their place of purchase. The investigation continues by the FDA to find the relationship between Hydroxycut Supplemens and Liver Inurys as well as other potentially serious side effects.
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Deregulating public oversight of nursing facilities and relying on voluntary quality improvement programs have been a priority for the nursing home industry for many years. Surprise, surprise, this year is no different. In a secret Issue Brief[1] being circulated on Capitol Hill, but not included with other Issue Briefs on its website, the American Health Care Association (AHCA), the trade association of for-profit nursing facilities, is asking Congress to repeal the current statutory requirement for annual surveys of nursing facilities and to go back to less-than-annual surveys, undermining years of work toward greater facility accountability. Which is exactly what we need, giving people who take care of our loved ones less accountability for their actions or inactions in the care of their patients, please note the sarcasm!
The Secret Proposal In proposed revisions to the survey and enforcement provisions of the Nursing Home Reform Law enacted by Congress in 1987, AHCA asks that nursing facilities in the "Top Tier" have on-site surveys only every three years, at statewide intervals not exceeding 39 months. [See AHCA, "Proposed Legislation; Nursing Home Survey Reform" (Issue Brief, undated).] AHCA does not define "Top Tier" facilities, does not describe how they would be selected, and does not identify how many facilities would avoid annual surveys under its proposal. Top Tier facilities would have "quarterly off-site reviews of acuity adjusted quality indicators" and, in the years when they did not have surveys, "a half day on-site review of quality of life and safety issues." No details are provided.
AHCA's secret legislative proposal also excludes, and may be intended to delete, long-standing statutory language that authorizes the imposition of various intermediate sanctions against facilities that fail to provide residents with the care and services they need. The proposal deletes enforcement requirements such as the statutory mandate that more serious remedies be imposed for uncorrected or repeated deficiencies.
Back to the Future
AHCA's legislative proposal revives the Reagan Administration's 1982 proposal to conduct nursing home surveys on a less-than-annual basis.[2] It was this change, among others, that led to two Congressionally-enacted moratoria preventing deregulation of the nursing home industry, the Institute of Medicine's 1986 study of nursing homes, Improving the Quality of Care in Nursing Homes, and, ultimately, enactment of the 1987 Nursing Home Reform Law.[3] Since 1987, Congress has required that all nursing facilities have annual standard surveys, conducted on a 9- to 15-month cycle, with a statewide average of 12 months.[4]
AHCA's Proposal Lacks Merit
In support of its proposal, AHCA first argues that "a one size fits all approach" to surveys "fails to provide incentives and disincentives to encourage better performance by nursing homes." This argument ignores the fact that current law already mandates a flexible survey cycle, allowing less frequent surveys in facilities with fewer problems. The incentives that AHCA calls for to encourage better facility performance are already in place.
Next, AHCA argues that "variation within the survey process makes it extremely difficult to provide information that would allow for meaningful comparisons of individual homes within and across states." Yet current Federal law requires that surveyors use a uniform survey process throughout the country for all facilities participating in Medicare or Medicaid or both. AHCA fails to explain how, if its members are concerned with variation in the use of the uniform survey process, having different survey processes for "Top Tier" facilities and other facilities would make "meaningful comparisons" among facilities more likely. Rather, the exact opposite seems true; different survey processes would make "meaningful comparisons" less possible.
AHCA's argument concludes, "When all of this is considered in the context of a confluence of shrinking resources, increased availability of quality data and a public demand for more useful, timely and reliable data, there is the opportunity to streamline and improve the current survey system."
Shrinking survey resources are indeed a problem. The Government Accountability Office recently reported that the portion of the Medicare budget spent on quality assurance declined from 0.1% in fiscal year 2000 to 0.06% in fiscal year 2008[5] and that some categories of health care providers are surveyed only once every 10 years.[6] State survey agencies contend that no health care provider should go more than two or three years without a public survey. Restoring and substantially increasing survey budgets should be a priority for the federal government.
AHCA's reference to the availability of "quality data" is presumably a reference to the quality measures, which are self-reported information about residents, taken from residents' assessments. These measures were originally developed to help surveyors focus on problems that were likely to be found in a facility, not to indicate whether residents were receiving high quality of care. Although the industry uses these quality measures as a proxy for actual quality of care in its voluntary campaign, Advancing Excellence in America's Nursing Homes,[7] these self-reported measures are not a reliable substitute for an independent, on-site, and public evaluation of actual facility performance.
Additional proposals by AHCA require that surveyors "include all the positive aspects of care and facility life as well as the aspects of care that are performed less well" and rename the Statement of Deficiencies to "Report of Survey." AHCA proposes that the Department of Health and Human Services focus more attention on survey consistency. While consistency is important and has been required by the Reform Law for decades, accuracy is also important. A facility should not be allowed to challenge a deficiency simply because the facility next-door was not also cited for the same problem.
Conclusion
AHCA's proposals do not "streamline and improve" the survey and enforcement processes; they destroy them. Congress should reject industry proposals to deregulate the nursing home industry.
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More evidence of misbehavior and concealment by pharmaceutical companies has surfaced. Seroquel, a drug which was designed to help persons with psychological problems, has been identified as causing serious physical harm to many people. Recently an internal E-mail was unsealed as part of the litigation over the Seroquel drug. This E-mail revealed that AstraZeneca failed to publicize results of at least three clinical trials of Seroquel with less favorable results, but on the contrary "cherry picked" data from one of the studies which was more favorable. At present AstraZeneca faces approximately 9,000 lawsuits because it failed to properly warn users that Seroquel can cause diabetes and other health problems.
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The South Carolina Senate has apparently concluded that even if it can accept $700 million in stimulus bill funds under the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund , those funds will be tied up in litigation so long that they will do no good for critical needs now.
Unless Governor Sanford accepts the stimulus funds this week, the Senate Finance Committee today talked about cutting $103 million from health and human services agencies (not counting multiples of that in federal match dollars), $162 million in public school spending, $44 million in higher education funding and $39 million in law enforcement and public safety agency budgets.
Please call the Governor Sanford's Office and let him know that he should accept the federal stimulus funds to preserve health care and supportive services for the poor and those with disabilities, keep teachers in the classrooms and maintain public safety. Call him at 803-734-2100
-- South Carolina Fair Share 2001 Assembly Street - Suite 107 P.O. Box 8888 Columbia, SC 29202 803-252-9813
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