LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Doctors and medical facilities across Nevada are calling on lawmakers to mandate standards for hospice care, as a growing number of patients and families seek help from legitimate facilities after experiencing severe neglect.
Assembly Bill 161 proposes state-mandated standards for hospice facilities and a “patient’s bill of rights,” spelling out the level of care that patients can expect at a hospice facility.
The proposed bill would mandate enhance oversight of new facilities (for the first two years), outline staffing and operations guidelines, require accreditation by reputable national organizations and payment through Medicare.
A report from non-profit Nathan Adelson Hospice indicates a more-than 300% rise in new facilities in recent years, primarily in Southern Nevada. Lawmakers and healthcare leaders testified that these facilities are leaving states like California, which have implemented new restrictions to curb abuses; California recently imposed a moratorium on new hospice facilities.
Officials from Nathan Adelson Hospice tracked a surge in requests for patient transfers, and documented cases where patients sought care after severe neglect: one patient came from “a house that is unlivable with feces and rats present all over,” the document stated. Other patients suffered bleeding, open wounds or feverish temperatures.
Dr. Timothy Beckett of Unified Care Hospice also submitted a letter to lawmakers, calling for more oversight for these facilities. His facility has accepted transfers from patients whose families were desperate for better quality care.
“Often times, unfortunately, we see patients that are without medications. We see patients who don’t get the durable medical equipment that they need, may not get the oxygen that they need. It’s actually pretty sad,” Dr Beckett said. “We have a lot of hospices that are currently operating that don’t necessarily have the patients’ best interest at heart…The hospices that remain will be under a lot more scrutiny because of this bill, which I think is very important,” Beckett said, noting that mandates for Medicare payments will also lead to more federal scrutiny.
Enforcement by Nevada’s Bureau of Health Care Quality and Compliance is often complaint-based, according to a spokesperson for Nathan Adelson Hospice in testimony to lawmakers; the spokesperson notes that many patients and families are unaware that they are “being taken advantage of,” and do not even file a complaint.
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