Justice for Residents Podcast

Senior Medicare Patrols (SMPs) assist Medicare beneficiaries to detect and report health care fraud and abuse. SMPs conduct outreach to educate the community, recruit and engage volunteers, and receive and investigate complaints from Medicare beneficiaries. In today’s episode, nursing home abuse lawyers Rob Schenk and Will Smith talk in depth about SMPs with guest Nathan Coflin a representative of the Georgia Senior Medicare Patrol Program.

On November 30th, 2018, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a memorandum that stated the obvious: staffing in long-term care nursing facilities significantly affects the care delivered to residents. More interestingly, CMS stated its concern that, according to mandatory reporting data, many nursing homes failed to maintain adequate staff on off hours. Some failed to have RNs for days at a time. In today’s episode, nursing home abuse attorneys Rob Schenk and Will Smith discuss the significance of CMS’ memo on staffing.

We often throw the words “probate” and “estate” around without much thought to their actual legal definitions. What is the probate process and how does setting up an estate of a deceased person affect a potential nursing home case? In today’s episode, nursing home abuse lawyers Rob Schenk and Will Smith talk about the Georgia probate process with Georgia probate lawyer Scott Fields.

Joe Musso, a partner at @ashcraftgerel presents at the 2018 National Consumer Voice Conference about simple actions that can help reduce the likelihood of neglect or abuse of loved ones in nursing homes.  

A 20-year career as a nursing home abuse and neglect attorney can teach you many valuable lessons about how to protect a loved one in a skilled nursing facility. Joe Musso has devoted his entire career to representing victims of nursing home abuse and neglect. He is the creator of the Empowered Caregiver Program which teaches family members how to confidently and effectively advocate and protect their loved ones.

There is plenty of synergy between the practice of an elder law lawyer and lawyers that sue nursing homes for neglect in Georgia. In today’s episode, nursing home lawyer Will Smith gives a presentation to the Elder Law Section of the @atlantabar on arbitration in admission documents, powers of attorney, and more.

Thousands of complaints are made against nursing homes every year. Hundreds of family members of nursing home residents seek the advice of counsel. Still fewer cases are initiated and only a fraction of those reach a verdict. In today’s episode, attorneys Rob Schenk and Will Smith discuss the process by which a case is evaluated by attorneys.

According to some recent studies, over 1.5 million people live in nursing homes or skilled nursing facilities in the USA. Among those residents, over 2 million infections occur annually. Infections are associated with elevated rates of morbidity and mortality, rehospitalization, and extended hospital stays. In today’s episode, attorneys Rob Schenk and Will Smith discuss whether nursing homes are liable for infections.

The NursingHome411.Org website is a useful resource for anyone looking for a nursing home or interested in current issues in nursing home care.  In today’s episode, attorneys Rob Schenk and Will Smith discuss how to utilize the nursing home 411 website to find or evaluate a nursing home with guest Richard Mollot, Executive Director of The Long Term Care Community Coalition.

Sexual abuse is non-consensual sexual contact by one person upon another. Sexual abuse is a form of elder abuse that frequently goes underreported, under-investigated, and unnoticed. In today’s episode, attorneys Rob Schenk and Will Smith discuss the signs of sexual abuse and how to uncover when it may be occurring to a loved one.

Minimum Data Sets are taken whenever a resident is admitted or discharged from a nursing home. They are important records that follow a resident to indicate their needs.  In today’s episode, attorneys Rob Schenk and Will Smith discuss nursing home minimum data sets and their role in nursing home care with guest Margo Craig, a legal nurse consultant with Sentry Medical Legal Services.