Retirement News : Seniors : Lawmaker seeks accountability for owners of nursing homes

Lawmaker seeks accountability for owners of nursing homes

Date Added: 24-08-2005

An online database of nursing home owners — including their past records — should be provided by the state for residents researching the facilities, a state legislator said Monday.

"We want full disclosure," Assemblyman Robert L. Morgan, D-Monmouth, said. "The minimum standard ought to be that everyone should know who owns the facility and who is responsible for it."

Morgan's comments were in response to an article in the Asbury Park Sunday Press that showed that there is no method for the public to research who owns nursing homes and what those owners' records are. The story also showed the problem is sometimes exacerbated by nursing home ownership held by corporate trusts.

Morgan said he and 12th District colleague Assemblyman Michael J. Panter Jr. would look into whether the issue can be addressed at the administrative level — perhaps by an executive order from acting Gov. Codey or a directive from state Depart-ment of Health and Senior Services Commissioner Fred Jacobs — or if it needs to be corrected through a bill in the state Legislature.

Either way, he said, "it's extremely important that this happen."

Codey spokesman Sean Darcy on Monday said the issue is something that "needs to be reviewed."

Morgan, who is a physician, noted that his medical practice must have a doctor's name attached to it in publicly available state records "so in case something happens, there is accountability, and we can't hide behind a corporate structure."

"The standards of having a publicly licensed facility would certainly mandate (an online database) as a minimum," he said. "I can't understand why it is not presently being done."

Morgan said if Jacobs cannot make such a directive, he would like to see it done through a directive from Codey.

"If there's a way we can do this that's simple and straightforward administratively that would make it happen faster, I think it's in the best interests of all," he said. "I would hope that everyone would see that and make it happen."

The nursing home industry "seems to be such a loosely regulated industry in some specific areas, it's frightening," he said. "We depend upon them to care for our loved ones when we can't physically be there."

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