AHCA Praises Senators Dodd & Burr For Working To Ensure Fire Safety In USA's Nursing Homes - Patient Safety Essential To Quality Nursing Home Care
"Senators Dodd and Burr introduced the Nursing Home Fire Safety Act of 2007, adding momentum on Capitol Hill to pass a bipartisan bill to better protect America's frail, elderly, and disabled citizens, and we thank them for their attention to this critical matter," stated Bruce Yarwood, Pres
"As our profession works to further broaden its quality mission, we understand our first, most basic priority, is to guarantee the physical safety of frail, elderly, and disabled residents within each long term care facility," stated Yarwood. "Patient safety is an essential part of quality long term care; and while nursing home fires are rare, this bill brings necessary, renewed attention to fire prevention, and ensuring every facility in the nation is equipped with a modern, effective fire sprinkling system."
"Today, many nursing homes are financially strained by inadequate reimbursement rates, rising energy costs, and the general cost of care for some of our country's most vulnerable patients, making it difficult for them to afford life-saving equipment such as automatic sprinkler systems," said Senator Dodd. "That is why we must do all that we can to provide them with the means to adequately outfit their facilities with the appropriate fire safety systems. This modest and bipartisan bill would help provide critical resources to save lives and prevent unnecessary tragedies from occurring."
The Dodd/Burr bill addresses financial assistance by providing loans and "hardship" grants to qualifying nursing homes for installation of automatic fire sprinklers. It authorizes $450 million for loans and $100 million for grants over five years.
Yarwood observed that since approximately 80% of nursing home patients rely on either Medicare or Medicaid to pay for their care, it is critical for Congress to take action to protect our most frail and vulnerable from the threat of fire - and help fund necessary enhancements to facility safety.
"The Nursing Home Fire Safety Act is yet another avenue to help ensure that AHCA's vision for improved fire safety in America's nursing homes becomes law, and we intend to make passage of this bill a top legislative priority," said the AHCA President and CEO. "This bill deserves the immediate support of long term care providers, residents, consumer organizations, and others who recognize better fire protections in nursing homes must be a necessity, not an option."
The American Health Care Association and the National Center For Assisted Living are the nation's leading long term care organizations. AHCA/NCAL and their membership are committed to performance excellence and Quality First, a covenant for healthy, affordable and ethical long term care. AHCA/NCAL represent more than 10,000 non-profit and proprietary facilities dedicated to continuous improvement in the delivery of professional and compassionate care provided daily to more than 1.5 million of our nation's frail, elderly and disabled citizens who live in nursing facilities, assisted living residences, subacute centers and homes for persons with mental retardation and developmental disabilities.
http://www.ahca.org
Laudele AHCA senatori Dodd & Burr de lucru pentru a asigura siguranþa de foc în SUA casele de asistenþã medicalã - esenþiale pentru siguranþa pacienþilor asistenþã medicalã de calitate de îngrijire la domiciliu - AHCA Praises Senators Dodd & Burr For Working To Ensure Fire Safety In USA's Nursing Homes - Patient Safety Essential To Quality Nursing Home Care - articole medicale engleza - startsanatate