CASTRO VALLEY -- Linda Uhrenholt sighs in exasperation when she recalls combing through the "fluff" to make an informed decision on a care home for her mother.
"It's like pulling teeth to get legitimate information," she said, recalling when she asked for the credentials of employees at a California care home, information she was later denied. "Facilities will tell you what you want to hear. A lot of people don't know the real story about a facility. It's only when you are there for a long time that you see what's really going on."
The lack of information Uhrenholt encountered has real consequences: A year ago, 19 residents were abandoned at Valley Springs Manor in Castro Valley when the facility was suddenly shuttered by the state Department of Social Services. Unbeknownst to those who lived there, the home had faced numerous violations over the years, but little of the facility's history was revealed until after it closed.
But despite a partially revamped website that provides the public with minimal information about senior care facilities in California and promises of enhancing department regulation of those facilities, few meaningful changes have been implemented in the last year at the state's Community Care Licensing division, which oversees residential care facilities for the elderly.
"Valley Springs Manor was a complete fiasco," said Pam Dickfoss, the new head of the department's Community Care Licensing division, which oversees care facilities throughout the state. "It was an eye-opening experience for us, and we learned a lot."
Still, critics of the department say the lessons learned haven't translated to action.
The department "talks about doing this or that and we look forward to what they say, but hell, nothing has changed," said Patricia McGinnis, executive director of the California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform. "Everything that is really needed isn't making the cut. It's like the department is saying 'Oh, I'm sorry; you might as well file your request in a black hole.'"
Assemblywoman Susan Eggman, D-Stockton, said she was disheartened when her bill, AB1571, failed to make it to Gov. Jerry Brown's desk. The bill would have required the department to put a wide array of information about senior care facilities online, including inspection reports, fines levied against a facility and even general information on how much a care home would cost.
But concerns about the projected cost of implementing and maintaining such a database -- $1 million to get it going and $700,000 a year to maintain it -- halted the bill. Instead, the department posted very basic licensing information on each home, but no details on inspections or violations.
"People shouldn't have to go ... use Yelp when they need help," Eggman said of the lack of readily available information online from the department. "For safety's sake, and for transparency, having the information online is just good customer service."
In September, the department updated its website to offer some of the information Eggman would have required to be online in her bill, including the number of facility complaints and inspection visits. Still, it's not clear if or when other information, including how much a facility was fined in the last year or how many violations the facility has faced since it was licensed, would be made available online.
McGinnis attributes the lack of swift reform to a complicated, bureaucratic process that can drag out in the department.
But Dickfoss said time is exactly what is needed to make sure changes go over smoothly and that in order to raise the bar on expectations with facilities, it "takes time to do things right."
"We all want the same thing," Dickfoss said. "We need to have everyone at the table to ensure that we are going in the right direction. We've got a momentum going. We want a culture change."
Dickfoss has promised that after a year of learning, the department will have a greater focus on inspections and investigations, but apart from saying that changes will start unfold in 2015, Dickfoss declined to give specific dates on when people can start to see department reform.
But legislators want a timeline. Like Eggman, Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, said legislators will not stop talking about what can and should be done, including herself, even though she will term out in November.
Skinner's bill, which was also killed, would have required the department to complete investigations into complaints at elder care facilities in a timely manner. Currently, no such rule is in place.
"We still have a chance to get at what we're trying to achieve: to get operators of facilities to behave better and to get the department enforced better," Skinner said. "People's lives are at stake here."
McGinnis said she is not hopeful that there will be significant changes with the department in the coming year. She said of the nine bills that her organization co-sponsored that were signed into law, the "small victories" were still overwhelmed by the realization that the big changes are still needed and will still be difficult to achieve.
Uhrenholt ultimately chose a home for her mother in her native Ohio, after hearing terrifying tales from friends and witnessing inconsistent care for various family members in homes in California and in Ohio. The experience has left Uhrenholt saying she won't consider moving into a senior care facility one day.
"My husband and I have said 'Just shoot me,'" she said.
"It's like pulling teeth to get legitimate information," she said, recalling when she asked for the credentials of employees at a California care home, information she was later denied. "Facilities will tell you what you want to hear. A lot of people don't know the real story about a facility. It's only when you are there for a long time that you see what's really going on."
The lack of information Uhrenholt encountered has real consequences: A year ago, 19 residents were abandoned at Valley Springs Manor in Castro Valley when the facility was suddenly shuttered by the state Department of Social Services. Unbeknownst to those who lived there, the home had faced numerous violations over the years, but little of the facility's history was revealed until after it closed.
But despite a partially revamped website that provides the public with minimal information about senior care facilities in California and promises of enhancing department regulation of those facilities, few meaningful changes have been implemented in the last year at the state's Community Care Licensing division, which oversees residential care facilities for the elderly.
"Valley Springs Manor was a complete fiasco," said Pam Dickfoss, the new head of the department's Community Care Licensing division, which oversees care facilities throughout the state. "It was an eye-opening experience for us, and we learned a lot."
Still, critics of the department say the lessons learned haven't translated to action.
The department "talks about doing this or that and we look forward to what they say, but hell, nothing has changed," said Patricia McGinnis, executive director of the California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform. "Everything that is really needed isn't making the cut. It's like the department is saying 'Oh, I'm sorry; you might as well file your request in a black hole.'"
Assemblywoman Susan Eggman, D-Stockton, said she was disheartened when her bill, AB1571, failed to make it to Gov. Jerry Brown's desk. The bill would have required the department to put a wide array of information about senior care facilities online, including inspection reports, fines levied against a facility and even general information on how much a care home would cost.
But concerns about the projected cost of implementing and maintaining such a database -- $1 million to get it going and $700,000 a year to maintain it -- halted the bill. Instead, the department posted very basic licensing information on each home, but no details on inspections or violations.
"People shouldn't have to go ... use Yelp when they need help," Eggman said of the lack of readily available information online from the department. "For safety's sake, and for transparency, having the information online is just good customer service."
In September, the department updated its website to offer some of the information Eggman would have required to be online in her bill, including the number of facility complaints and inspection visits. Still, it's not clear if or when other information, including how much a facility was fined in the last year or how many violations the facility has faced since it was licensed, would be made available online.
McGinnis attributes the lack of swift reform to a complicated, bureaucratic process that can drag out in the department.
But Dickfoss said time is exactly what is needed to make sure changes go over smoothly and that in order to raise the bar on expectations with facilities, it "takes time to do things right."
"We all want the same thing," Dickfoss said. "We need to have everyone at the table to ensure that we are going in the right direction. We've got a momentum going. We want a culture change."
Dickfoss has promised that after a year of learning, the department will have a greater focus on inspections and investigations, but apart from saying that changes will start unfold in 2015, Dickfoss declined to give specific dates on when people can start to see department reform.
But legislators want a timeline. Like Eggman, Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, said legislators will not stop talking about what can and should be done, including herself, even though she will term out in November.
Skinner's bill, which was also killed, would have required the department to complete investigations into complaints at elder care facilities in a timely manner. Currently, no such rule is in place.
"We still have a chance to get at what we're trying to achieve: to get operators of facilities to behave better and to get the department enforced better," Skinner said. "People's lives are at stake here."
McGinnis said she is not hopeful that there will be significant changes with the department in the coming year. She said of the nine bills that her organization co-sponsored that were signed into law, the "small victories" were still overwhelmed by the realization that the big changes are still needed and will still be difficult to achieve.
Uhrenholt ultimately chose a home for her mother in her native Ohio, after hearing terrifying tales from friends and witnessing inconsistent care for various family members in homes in California and in Ohio. The experience has left Uhrenholt saying she won't consider moving into a senior care facility one day.
"My husband and I have said 'Just shoot me,'" she said.
