CENTER
FOR MEDICARE ADVOCACY AND
NATIONAL SENIOR CITIZENS LAW CENTER
ISSUE MEMORANDUM ON
FEEDING ASSISTANTS IN NURSING HOMES
In September 2003, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services published final rules allowing states to permit nursing facilities to
use a new category of worker – "feeding assistants" – to feed
residents who need help in eating.
FALSE PREMISES
AND
FALSE PROMISES: "Feeding
Assistants"
Are a Step Backwards for Nursing Facility Quality of Care, a memorandum by
Erick Carlson of the National Senior Citizens Law Center and Toby Edelman of the
Center for Medicare Advocacy, describes this issue and sets out policy and legal
concerns about the federal rules.
CMS
has now partially responded to Eric Carlson's
Freedom of Information Act request about feeding assistants.
The 200 pages of documents released so far contain no evidence of
successful feeding assistant programs in
North Dakota
or
Wisconsin, the two states whose experiences
CMS
described as supporting the feeding assistant rules. The documents instead
indicate that the federal government consistently told both states that their
feeding assistant programs were illegal. The
Health Care Financing Administration,
CMS'
predecessor agency, sent letters to both states in 2001 that stated,
"What
the law requires is that workers who provide any nursing-related service must
complete an approved nurse aide training course and be certified as competent to
perform all nurse aide tasks."
The
Law
Center
and the Center are interested in hearing from advocates about feeding
assistants.
To
view the complete memorandum in .PDF format, click HERE.
Copyright © Center for Medicare Advocacy, Inc.
05/02/2008