Vote on Elder Justice Act Expected by Year-End

Abstract

Mitchel L. Zoler is with the Philadelphia bureau of Elsevier Global Medical News. PHILADELPHIA — The Elder Justice Act should finally reach a floor vote in the House and Senate in the current Congress, Robert B. Blancato said at a conference sponsored by the American Society for Aging. The Elder Justice Act was introduced in February 2003 and, in each of the two sessions since then, versions of the legislation were introduced in the Senate and House, with a bill clearing the Senate Finance Committee. Still, the measure never got through the full Senate or House, although it appears set for a Senate vote by the end of this year, according to Mr. Blancato, a lobbyist and consultant and the national coordinator of the Elder Justice Coalition in Washington. “It's been a little hard to convince people” that elder abuse is a problem, he said in an interview. “There is still an element of denial in Washington about elderly abuse, neglect, and exploitation.” Despite what Mr. Blancato calls a “growing problem of elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation,” less than 2% of what the Federal government spends on abuse prevention in the United States goes to fight elder abuse, Mr. Blancato said. Elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation manifest as beatings, abandonment, financial exploitation, sexual assault, and the withholding of care. The Elder Justice Act is designed to create the infrastructure and resources to prevent, detect, treat, understand, intervene in, and prosecute elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation. The bipartisan legislative effort, which is sponsored by six senators and 43 representatives of Congress, calls for several initiatives that will attempt to achieve these goals, including the following: ▸ The creation of Offices of Elder Justice at the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services. ▸ The creation of an Elder Justice Resource Center and Library. ▸ The funding of Centers of Excellence to enhance research, including studies to track the incidence and prevalence of elder abuse in the United States. ▸ The development of new ways to detect elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation. Additional interventions that would be created by the act include funding for adult protective services, better uniformity of services for the abused elderly throughout the United States, dedicated funding for training, and more thorough identification and reporting of abuse episodes. Among other things, supporters of the legislation say it would include grants and tax incentives to bolster recruitment in long-term care. It also would give incentives for workers who remain in the field for more than five years to help address retention issues. One provision also seeks continuing training and development. The American Medical Directors Association has said it is still reviewing the legislation. Current statistics on the prevalence and incidence of elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation are uncertain because they require that episodes be reported to appropriate authorities. Nevertheless, the National Center on Elder Abuse estimates that 3%–5% of the elderly population has been abused. Experts estimate about that about 5 million cases of elderly financial abuse occur each year. And the rate of reported episodes of all types of abuse is rising as well. There was a 19% increase in reported cases during 2003–2004, according to Mr. Blancato.