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The
Aging Network
Program Instructions
September 29, 1998
AOA-PI-98-05
TO : STATE AGENCIES ON
AGING ADMINISTERING PLANS UNDER TITLE III OF THE OLDER AMERICANS
ACT, AS AMENDED
SUBJECT : Instructions
for State Long-Term Care Ombudsman Report to the Administration
on Aging - FY 1998 - 2000 and Categorization of Abuse Complaints
LEGAL AND RELATED REFERENCES
:Older Americans Act, as amended
The purpose of this
Program Instruction (PI) is to provide guidance to the states
for their annual state ombudsman reports for the next three years.
The PI also reiterates guidance provided in the attached National
Ombudsman Reporting System (NORS) instructions on documenting
complaints to ombudsmen involving abuse, gross neglect and financial
exploitation.
State Ombudsman
Reporting Requirements for FY 1998 - 2000
This PI extends to
U.S. Fiscal Years 1998, 1999 and 2000 the requirement that states
submit their annual Long-Term Care Ombudsman Report to the Administration
on Aging, pursuant to Section 712(h)(1) of the Older Americans
Act (OAA), according to the enclosed format and instructions,
which the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved
through August 21, 2001.
The report is due
on January 31 of the year following the close of the U.S. Fiscal
Year, which ends on September 30 of each year.
The form and instructions
are identical to those used for the FY 1997 ombudsman report.
We are upgrading the diskette on which states submit their reports.
We will send the diskette and directions for transmitting information
on it to the state agencies and state ombudsmen as soon as the
revisions are completed.
Categorization
of Abuse Complaints
The first seven categories
in the list of types of complaints on the form are for problems
which are classified as abuse, gross neglect or financial exploitation.
It is very important that these categories be used only for serious
complaints involving willful mistreatment or exploitation of residents
by facility staff, management, other residents or unknown or outside
individuals (i.e., by individuals other than friends and family
members of residents), per the attached instructions for the National
Ombudsman Reporting System (NORS). The definitions of each type
of abuse and examples provided in the instructions are those used
by the Health Care Financing Administration in its Survey Forms
and Interpretive Guidelines for the Long-Term Care Survey Process.
Complaints which
involve injuries which most likely are due to accidents or unintentional
mishandling of residents, inadequate care (but not gross neglect),
or problems due to poor accounting of residents= funds rather than willful financial
exploitation should be classified in the appropriate category
in sections of the list of complaints other than those in section
A. Care in making these distinctions in documenting complaints
is important in order to secure data which is as accurate as possible
on incidents of actual abuse, gross neglect and financial exploitation
in long-term care facilities which are reported to ombudsmen.
DUE DATE: January 31, 1999 and January 31, 2000
(The due date for the FY 2000 report will be provided at a later
time, following extension of the OMB approval date to cover the
period after August 31, 2001.)
ATTACHMENTS: State Annual Ombudsman Report to the
Administration on Aging and Instructions
INQUIRIES: General inquiries should be addressed
to AoA Regional Administrators. Specific questions regarding the
reporting content should be addressed to Sue Wheaton, AoA Ombudsman
Program Specialist, Telephone: (202) 619-7585.
Jeanette
C. Takamura
Assistant Secretary for Aging
COPIES: State Ombudsmen
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