This report originally appeared in the July 2009 issue of DOTmed Business News

National: Senators Introduce End-of-Life Care Legislation

Senators John D. Rockefeller IV (D-WV) and Susan Collins (R-ME) have recently reintroduced a more expansive, comprehensive version of their original "Advance Planning and Compassionate Care Act." According to a press release on Sen. Rockefeller's web site, Senators Herb Kohl (D-WI), Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Tom Carper (D-DE) are co-sponsors of the bill S.1150.
"Death is a very personal and complicated issue that we all must confront one day. We have an obligation to help the sick maintain dignity and proper care for as long as possible," said Senator Rockefeller, Chairman of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Health Care, in the press release. "Our efforts on health care reform must include improvements to end-of-life care. Far too often, patients, their families, and their health care providers do not have the information needed to make educated decisions about their options. We must make sure that patients' final wishes are known, respected, and complied with - always."

The Act would provide: Improved consumer information about advance care planning and end-of-life care; improved provider education (establishing a National Geriatric and Palliative Care Service Corps); portability of advance directives between states, ensuring that such directives are easily visible; funding for new approaches to advance care planning; Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP coverage for consultations; improved consumer access to hospice and palliative care; development of quality measures for end-of-life care assessment; and establishment of a new National Center on Palliative and End-of-Life Care at the National Institute of Health.

State: NY AG Arrests Operator Distributing Fake Home Health Aide Certifications

Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo announced in a press release the arrest of Ronald Kehinde for an alleged theft of more than $50,000 from Medicaid, through Kehinde's operation of a home health aide training school in the Bronx. Kehinde was charged with several counts including grand larceny in the second degree. AG Cuomo says the Bronx school allegedly issued phony certifications to health aides across New York City. (The charges are accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.)

The Attorney General's press release says that Kehinde operated a training facility (NCLEX Review and Preparatory Solutions, LLC) where allegedly: students did not have to complete the requisite hours of training for a home health aide certificate; student test results were fabricated; individual students were charged higher enrollment fees than the New York State Department of Health (DOH) permits; and that Kehinde submitted a false application with the DOH in order to open NCLEX, failing to identify Kehinde as NCLEX's operator and director. Kehinde had previously been charged in 2007 for a similar home health aide training school, which the AG says led to a ban from his involvement with the State's Medicaid system.

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