Persuasive Paper Part 2: Solution and AdvantagesProvide feedback on the criteria expected in the paper. Follow these instructions:1) Receive paper 3) Comment on all criteria, noting strengths an

Persuasive Paper Part 2: Solution and Advantages

Provide feedback on the criteria expected in the paper. Follow these instructions:

1)    Receive paper 

3)    Comment on all criteria, noting strengths and / or areas for improvement on the feedback form. 

Criteria

Comments

+ Strengths

< Opportunities for Improvement

1

Included a defensible, relevant thesis statement in the first paragraph.

2

Explain a detailed, viable solution that supports your thesis. This should be one or two (1-2) paragraphs.

3

State, explain, and support the first advantage (economic, social, political, environmental, ethical/moral, etc.) to your solution. This should be one or two (1-2) paragraphs.

4

State, explain, and support the second advantage (economic, social, political, environmental, ethical/moral, etc.) to your solution. This should be one or two (1-2) paragraphs.

5

State, explain, and support the third advantage (economic, social, political, environmental, ethical/moral, etc.) to your solution. This should be one or two (1-2) paragraphs.

6

Provide a concluding paragraph / transitional paragraph that summarizes the proposed solution and its advantages.

7

Develop a coherently structured paper with effective transitional words, phrases, sentences, and an introduction, body, and conclusion.

8

Support advantage claims with at least three (3) additional quality relevant references (at least six (6) total for Parts 1 and 2).

9

Clarity, writing mechanics, and formatting requirements.

10

Other

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Should Laws Governing Nursing Homes be Changed?

The laws governing nursing homes are placed to ensure that the patients that are residing in these types of facilities are taking care of with professionalism, courtesy, respect and special care according to the needs of the patient. There's a problem with these facilities and not enough is being done to correct it. I have been through this kind of ordeal, and I would like to explore all the different aspects that affect not just me but many other family members in different states that are going through such a world-wide issue.[G1] [G2] [G3] 

The Problems

The problems that exist and continue to exist in nursing homes, The laws that regulate nursing facilities which are implemented differently from state to state. The insurance companies such as Medicare and Medicaid that finance for long-term care. The understaffing that a lot of these facilities are faced with because the Nurses, LPN's, orderlies etc. are being overworked but underpaid[G4] . The families that do find out about their elderly loved ones not receiving adequate care, turn to lawsuits against the facilities seeking monetary compensation and not seeking the proper rectification that will help improve these facilities care that is in question. The directors or owners of many facilities that do not carry proper insurance that allows them to properly take care of the needs of the facility.

The first problem that needs to be addressed; is the families that sue these facilities that are deemed to be liable for injuries and improper care. According to an article in the ABA Journal, "Most civil lawsuits against nursing homes settle, according to health care attorneys, who says the agreements are often limited to monetary awards and include plaintiff confidentiality clauses that keep potentially damaging information out of the public view."[G5]  (Francis Ward, 2016, p. 17).. [G6] 

This statement here is such a powerful statement because of course, the problem not only lies with the facilities and [G7] staff, but it is also up to the families to think about more than just themselves. You would think that the main goal would be to make sure that the problems that you have faced within a certain nursing home, you, as a family member of the one you love, would want to make sure that another family member knows what you and your elderly loved one endured. It should be a civic duty that you warn the public about the care of the nursing home that you are accusing of injury, cost, [G8] inhumane practices, and care. [G9] [G10] 

Problem two

Federal laws such as the Boren Amendment act, do little if anything to ensure that not only nursing facilities provide adequate care but adequate rates for these facilities as well.  According to the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, "The Boren Amendment contradicted Congress's initial intent to reduce federal oversight of state rate-setting behavior, the policy direction favored by the courts reinforced the direction of other policies pursued contemporaneously by the elected branches of government". "As part of the Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1980,1 Congress enacted Boren to replace more stringent standards for reasonable cost-related reimbursements with requirements that states find and make assurances to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that nursing home payments were reasonable and adequate to meet the costs that must be incurred by efficiently and economically operated facilities.” Six years later, The Boren Amendment was changed again by OBRA 1987,4 which basically stated that providers had enforceable rights to invoke judicial oversight of state compliance with Boren’s requirements”. The Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1980 (Pub. L. 96-499). Simply requiring that states provide public notice of proposed rate changes and the methods used to establish them. (Alan Miller, 2006, pp. 145-173)[G11] 

Thus, there are no set rates for this kind of care leaving families that are struggling, to either turn to unkept facilities that are cost-effective but poorly operated. There is no median and it all depends on if the facility[G12] . If it is a not-for-profit[G13]  organization who take Medicare/Medicaid but the waiting list for beds are long, the facility is understaffed and the quality and care maybe a hit or miss depending on how much funding is provided. A private organization which cost do not include being reimbursed from Medicare/Medicaid which means these facilities are self-pay and leave patients on Medicaid/Medicare out of even choosing this kind of facility. However, some of these facilities are also understaffed because the owner owns too many facilities to keep up with the cost of staff and the money th[G14] at he or she makes is placed in the owner’s pocket and not back into the facility. Then we have the Federally run facilities who also provide low-cost care but again there is [G15] inadequate care that is given. The staff is underpaid, overworked leading to many errors, understaffing and negligence towards the patients because of the staff having to work in poor conditions themselves. [G16] 

The third problem is staffing. When a person chose a field, they choose that field because they really like it and they really are passionate about what they want to bring and get out of the field that they have chosen. However, once a person graduates school and start to interact in these nursing homes they want to work in, their perception of the field they are in starts to change because of the conditions they themselves are faced with in these facilities. There are LPN’s and Nurses that I personally know that work 16 hours shifts because of the lack of staff that is on hand.

JISKA C0HEN-MAN5F1ELD, Ph.D., is Director, Research Institute, at Hebrew Home of Greater Washingto[G17] [G18] n) in Rockville, Maryland did a review called “Turnover Among Nursing Home Staff:” Her findings were quite astonishing, however; I don’t believe it should have been surprising. According to her research, “A study of nursing home staff turnovers revealed that facilities can pay over $7,000 per registered nurse (RN) replacement and over $2,200 to replace a nurse aide (NA).” with turnover rates usually ranging from 40% to 75%, with some reaching 500%.” (Cohen-Mansfield, 1997, p. 59).

In summary, we ask ourselves, is this the world that we live in? Are there really that many cold-hearted humans in the world? Well, unfortunately, the answer is yes[G19] [G20] . There are men and women that go to school and swear their passion is about helping and caring for those who cannot care for themselves and end up going cold and completely insensitive to the needs of a patient, primarily due to the fact of their own treatment. There are family members that want change but do not heavily pursue the correct ways to ensure there are changes made. Why? Well if you believe that by suing this nursing home is the way to ensure better care, it brings you to ponder, how selfish are you? The public does not hear about this care that your family member received so, therefore, another family goes through the same thing and so on and so forth and the problem with the care is never addressed.  [G21] [G22] [G23] [G24] [G25] 

There are no laws that state these facilities cant charge extremes amount of money but there are statues in the amounts of fines that can be charge[G26] d by the government if this facility is placed in front of the judicial system. The problem does not just exist with one or the other, the problem exists with everyone as a whole from the Directors all the way to the politicians that slap fines on facilities, however, they continue to stay open for more problems to commence. There's a problem within these nursing homes and the problem and the solution lie in who is going to be held accountable for all the wrong that is happening inside of these walls.[G27] [G28]  [G29] 

References

Alan Miller, E. (2006). Federal Oversight, State Policy Making, and the Courts: An Empirical Analysis of Nursing Facility Litigation Under the Boren Amendment. [G30] Journal of Empirical Legal Studies[G31] , 145-173.[G32] [G33] [G34] 

Cohen-Mansfield, J. (1997). Turnover Among Nursing Home Staff. Nursing Management, 59-65.

Francis Ward, S. (2016). Lawsuits fail to bring improvements to nursing homes. ABA, 17-17.