CO Wants Vet Centers to be managed by private sector
Posted by Patti on June 18th, 2005 / Print This Post
I’m surprised that CO is considering handing over the management of it’s state run homes to a for profit corp. I guess the private sector does have a better record at keeping the homes in good shape and they can offer better wages and benefits for staff. Not too many of them do offer these things though. CO has had some pretty hefty issues with all the nursing homes…I have access to the data that comes from surveys…WOW.
A key panel this week recommended that Colorado get out of the nursing home business and transfer management of its six homes to the private sector.If Gov. Bill Owens agrees, it will mean military veterans homes in Aurora, Florence, Rifle and Monte Vista would be run by nursing home specialists from private firms, rather than by the Colorado Department of Human Services. Walsenburg is already being run by a hospital authority in the area. The state nursing home in Trinidad, not exclusively for veterans, also would be run by a private firm.
The recommendations came from the accountability committee for the State Veterans Home at Fitzsimons in Aurora.
The panel was given oversight of the Fitzsimons home in 2003 after a report found fiscal problems, substandard care and patient-safety issues. Piñon Management was appointed to manage Fitzsimons temporarily. Panel members were supposed to oversee the transition from Piñon back to the department.
Instead, the panel said Piñon had done such a good job that it was rethinking the management of all state homes.
Panelists have recommended that Piñon, which runs 15 homes in Colorado, continue to manage Fitzsimons in the short term, with the hope that the Lakewood-based company would be a candidate to run all the homes in the future.
Colorado veterans support Piñon’s work at Fitzsimons.
Human Services oversees dozens of programs but isn’t necessarily an expert in any.
“Running a nursing home does take a very special expertise today,” said Arlene Miles, executive director of the Colorado Health Care Association.
Twelve states have at least one of their veterans nursing homes managed under private contract, according to a recent survey by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a research institute based in Michigan.
In all, there are about 17,000 people living in 220 nursing homes in Colorado.
The $25.3 million state-of-the-art Fitzsimons home opened in October 2002, but was closed to new admissions a little more than a year later after scathing health and financial audits. State and federal reports said residents were being abused by staff, assaulted by other residents, chemically restrained with drugs and not being given adequate pain control.