Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Ombudsman Funding topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Long‑term care ombudsman programs seek sustained funding after volunteer declines and disaster response demands
Summary
Long‑term care ombudsman representatives told lawmakers volunteer numbers have declined since the pandemic and that programs need new funding to sustain monitoring visits and emergency response capacity for nursing homes and residential care facilities.
Representatives for California’s long‑term care ombudsman programs asked the Legislature to invest in program capacity after volunteer shortfalls and recent disaster responses stretched local programs.
Rachel Tate, vice president for ombudsman services at Wise & Healthy Aging, described ombudsman staff coordinating during recent wind storms and wildfires to locate evacuated long‑term care residents, ensure they remained with familiar staff and peers where possible, and secure medical equipment and supplies. Tate said programs often relied on local knowledge built through regular monitoring visits.
Ombudsman advocates requested $15.9 million ongoing in non‑general‑fund accounts to support statewide program capacity and cited data that hundreds of long‑term care facilities did not receive at least one quarterly visit in the most recent federal fiscal year. The Los Angeles program separately requested $3.2 million to bolster emergency preparedness for long‑term care facilities in that county.
Department of Finance said the funds advocated for would draw from licensing/citation penalty reserves and cautioned those reserves have existing loans and operational uses; LAO said it would provide technical assistance on options. Legislators signaled interest but asked for follow‑up on fund availability, the scale of missed visits, and how additional resources would be used to restore monitoring coverage and emergency preparedness.
