California Armenian Home Health Care Fraud

Every politician moans that entitlement spending is out of control, so it ought to be easy at least to stop blatant fraud and abuse. Evidently not, says the Wall Street Journal.
The scene of this crime is Medicaid; it turns out that states have been goosing their financing arrangements to maximize their federal payouts and dump more of their costs onto taxpayers nationwide. The swindle works like this, says the Journal:

• A state overpays state-run health-care providers, such as county hospitals or nursing homes, for Medicaid benefits far in excess of its typical rates.
• Then the federal government reimburses the state for "half" of the inflated bills.
• Once the state bags the extra matching funds, the hospital is required to rebate the extra money it received at the scam's outset.

Cash thus makes a round trip from states to providers and back to the states -- all to dupe Washington. The right word for this is fraud. A corporation caught in this kind of self-dealing -- faking payments to extract billions, then laundering the money -- would be indicted. In fact, a new industry of contingency-fee consultants has sprung up to help states find and exploit the "ambiguities" in Medicaid's regulatory wasteland. All the feds can do is notice loopholes when they get too expensive and close them, whereupon the cycle starts over.
A reform alternative would be for the government to distribute block grants, rather than a set fee for every Medicaid service, says the Journal. That would amputate Washington from state accounting and insulate taxpayers from these shakedowns. States would have an incentive to spend more responsibly, and also craft innovative policies without Beltway micromanagement.
Source: Editorial, "Medicaid Money Laundering," Wall Street Journal, May 19, 2008.
For text:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121115735476802403.html

Remember that this sham of a nursing home exists on 85% from Medicaid or California (MediCAL)
The Millions that go into this facility are staggering and so is the salaries of Yuba and her circle of pals.   Too bad there is no support from the Armenian Community any more.  They have other REAL charities they are donating to.  Besides most don't use the California Armenian Home anymore, they do home health care instead.   Yuba came back in 2007, after there was a "scandal" of missing funds.  Yuba doesn't have what it takes to build the home up as she has no clout or respect from the Armenian community who once was 100% behind the place.
To those of us who had families that built the place and put in time, sweat and hard work it's time to tell the board to take the word "Armenian" off the sign and stop exploiting the word  "Armenian"

Yuba is 67 years old and needs to take a hike or learn some professionalism.  We hear they are interviewing people, Yuba cannot sustain the home forever. 
The word is that they are going through extensive repairs and upgrades then will sell to a corporation to take it off the hands of the aging board.  

We have no interest any more, after we have had to deal with the decline over the last 20 years.  It's not the pride of the Armenian Community, the new generation and immigrants see right through the fact the facility has nothing to do with Armenians.  In name only.  We won't be exploited.
Yuba you don't like the Armenian community, we certainly don't like you.  

Start packing Yuba.

California Armenian Home and the depression and mental illness of Nursing Home Employees

This Harvard University study explores the high strees and mental illness of nursing home employees.  Their low wages of the lower employees (LVNs and CNAs) who actually do all the work while the higher paid RNs and others don't carry near the load of these lower end wage earners.
Thus this explains the high turnover at Nursing Homes and the California Armenian Home.  80% of the employees have been there under 4 years and this is typical with lower wage nursing home employees. 
There are very few of the 100 California Armenian Home employees that have been there over 10 years, there is about 8% of the employees.  Typically, the employees last 1-2 years and move on.  But it is difficult finding people that are steady and show up for their shifts.
Many drink to self-medicate and openly boast about drinking.  Here are a few of the California Armenian Home employees out at a sleezy bar that has cheap shots and openly boasting about getting wasted.  Well at least it beats stealing the medication of the patients and mixing it with the alcohol.  The working environment and company culture of the California Armenian Home is riddled with politics.  Anyone talented enough will leave and find a job at the VA Hospital and make more money plus Federal Benefits. 

Sassanah (CNA)  Tammy (LVN)  Mary-Ann (LVN) and the famous Lori "gun toting psycho" Quinn (LVN)
Out getting wasted is this to mask their mental illiness or are they celebrating having a job?

According to Harvard School of Public Health researcher Cassandra Okechukwu, the prevalence of depression is common among low-wage nursing home workers -- who also experience higher levels of stress than other workers.

"The high burden of work-family stress and depression in this group has important public health implications for the workers and their families as well as for the quality of care delivered to nursing home residents," said Okechukwu.

452 workers, mostly women, were surveyed to investigate the link between depression and stress at home and work. Participants were asked about stressors such as financial hardships, lack of food and whether they worried about work-related issues during non-work hours. Investigators found that these stressors were double the rate in nursing home workers than other professions.

According to the report, nursing home workers are a growing part of the workforce who may face higher rates of household food insufficiency, financial strain, and work-family spillover. Among nursing assistants-the biggest work group in nursing homes, and among the lowest paid-the proportion of women is estimated to be 80% to 90%; most are single mothers and are thus the primary wage earners for their families. Nursing home workers are more likely to be recent immigrants who may not be aware of or eligible for government benefits. A majority of these low-wage earners are also members of racial/ethnic minority groups.

The implications are serious.

Depression leads to absenteeism and turnover among workers, which in turn translates to poorer care for residents in direct care settings. Because improvement in care quality at nursing homes is an important public health priority, reducing workers' depressive symptoms and their associated effects may have positive results for both workers and nursing home residents.

Food insufficiency is a household-level stressor that has been associated with overweight, behavioral problems, and poor mental health in children and adolescents. This has further implications for obesity in this group because several studies have reported a seemingly paradoxical relation between food insufficiency and obesity whereby those who report food insufficiency also report obesity. My guess, people resort to dollar meals at fast food restaurants, which is typically an unhealthy choice.

Financial strain, food insufficiency, and symptoms of depression were common in our multi-ethnic sample of nursing home workers. For primary wage earners, household food insufficiency was associated with tripled odds of depressive symptoms-the leading cause of disability worldwide.

I have often said that the resident experience starts with the employee experience. And an employee cannot just be viewed in the context of how we know them at work. Progressive organizations take the time to really know their employees. And when they do, they uncover the real issues that are affecting the work environment. They then seek to address them at the very least instilling self-esteem in workers that can carry back to the home.

We talk about being culturally sensitive to long-term care residents. It would seem we first need to do that with employees.

http://assistedliving.about.com/b/2012/03/05/depression-common-among-low-wage-nursing-home-staff.htm

 



 

California Armenian Home and the most professional of employees!!

Armenians no longer manage this home and in fact, have nothing to do with it.  The Ani Guild, Home Guild and Board of Directors are older and have no interest from the younger Armenian Business communities. 
There is no Armenians in the Administrative staff Yuba has made sure of this.
The patient population of the California Armenian Home is not Armenian.

Isn't it time that they remove the word "Armenian" off the sign?
Stop trying to entice anyone to donate just because the sign has the word "Armenian" in it. 

Take it off the sign, sell the place and let these barnyard animals operate the home.  

 

Yuba, your group of professionals (snickers, giggles) cannot find a job anywhere else.  While they hate working for you they will stay because they have no where else to go. 

 

Laughable Losers!!!  

Meanwhile the old bags of the board, cannot get anyone interested in the Armenian Home to be on the board.  Sell the home and keep these Barnyard Animals to operate it.  The home declines year after year in professionalism and donations.  

The home is subsidized 85% by MediCAL and Medicare.  Take off the word "Armenian" and have the State operate it.   

 

These poor old bags are tired.