By: U. Kelley Riedel, Attorney at Law
WASHINGTON, D.C. - In an effort to protect the health, safety and welfare of the United States’ elderly population, Congress has been busy since beginning the 2009 terms and has submitting a number of bills aimed at curbing the rise of Elder Abuse and Neglect in our country. In its first action, the U.S. House of Representatives submitted a bill titled “The Elder Abuse Victims Act of 2009” (H.R. 448) on January 9, 2009 to “protect seniors in the United States from elder abuse by establishing specialized elder abuse prosecution and research programs and activities to aid victims of elder abuse, to provide training to prosecutors and other law enforcement related to elder abuse prevention and protection.” H.R. 448 also seeks to “establish programs that provide for emergency crisis response teams to combat elder abuse.”
This bill, which has been submitted to the Judiciary Committee for review and revision, seeks up to $30 million in funding for preliminary studies and investigative research on state and federal laws regarding elder abuse and neglect, long-range plan developments for state and federal elder abuse programs to detect and prevent elder abuse and neglect, intervention and treatment of victims of elder abuse, and to make any revisions necessary to improve the elder justice system in the U.S. It also awards grant money to eligible entities who study the special needs of victims of elder abuse, neglect and exploitation, as well as grants to provide training, technical assistance and other types of support to law enforcement, local prosecutors and courts handling elder justice-related cases.
The House also introduced a bill to provide much-needed support to caregivers of the elderly. Titled, “The Elder Caregiver Support and Information Enhancement Act,” it seeks to “authorize additional appropriations for the family caregiver support program under the Older Americans Act of 1965.” This bill has been referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor, as well as the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
The U.S. Senate has also introduced important legislation related to elder abuse and neglect. The “Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act of 2009” (S. 54) seeks to “amend Title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for patient protection by establishing minimum nurse staffing ratios” at Medicare-participating hospitals. The bill recognized that understaffing of hospitals is a common occurrence with the aging population and corresponding increase in demand for elder nursing care, and also understands that a facility which is understaffed will not be able to provide adequate care for elders.
And in an effort to prepare for the anticipated increase in healthcare for the elderly with the rapidly-increasing aging population in the U.S., the Senate introduced S. 245 titled “The Retooling the Health Care Workforce for an Aging America Act of 2009.” The purpose of this bill is to “expand, train and support all sectors of the health care work force to care for the growing population of older individuals in the United States.”