In early 2007 the Long Term Care
Community Coalition (LTCCC)
convened a Civil Monetary Penalties
Partnership Summit, to discuss the
use of nursing home civil monetary
penalties (CMPs) and state fines as
part of a LTCCC project funded by
the New York Community Trust.
The summit brought together representatives
of a number of consumer
advocacy organizations including the
Alzheimer’s Association,NYC Chapter
as well as the state and local ombudsmen
to identify consumer priorities
for the use of CMPs and potential
projects and activities that the funds
could be used for, which would
benefit nursing home residents.
In 2004, New York State passed a
law, long advocated by LTCCC, that
permitted the state to collect federal
CMPs. LTCCC created the CMP
Stakeholder Summit in order to
implement in New York the recommendations
made in LTCCC’s
national report as well as to give
additional guidance to the state
Department of Health as it awards
grants for projects funded by CMPs
and state fines beginning during
this year.
Summit Recommendations
for New York State
In addition to supporting implementation
of the recommendations made
in LTCCC’s national report such as:
absolutely require that funds be used
for purposes directly related to nursing
home residents; expend funds for
CMPs/fines primarily for special
projects and programs that stimulate
resident quality of care and quality of
life that can ultimately be replicated;
authorize funds for innovative projects
that go beyond regulatory requirements and ordinary budget items to
improve residents’ quality of care and
quality of life; encourage person
directed care; promote consumer
advocacy and involvement; and stimulate
and support the spread of “culture
change;”the Summit generated a
number of additional suggestions:
- Publicize the availability of funds.
- Encourage non-provider projects.
It is important to make sure that
small grassroots organizations and
local ombudsmen programs are
able to participate.
- Make sure that funded
projects are focused on
making meaningful change.
- Require that a project’s goals
have broad stakeholder support.
- Priority should be given to
projects in the counties where
the CMPs were levied.
- Require applicants to identify
the underlying problems their
projects will address, giving the
scope of their projects and how
many people will benefit.
An action plan was developed to
encourage the implementation of
these regulations and a small group of
participants from the Summit agreed
to participate in an ongoing CMP
workgroup that will continue to
work to implement these recommendations
by meeting with policy
makers and monitoring future funded
projects. LTCCC will also continue
to publicize CMP developments and
help non-providers apply for funding
by making sure they know of both
the availability of the funds and how
to apply once a request for proposals
is released.
— Adapted with permission from the Long Term Care Community Coalition (LTCCC) May 2007
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