Isn’t it time we accept the fact that warehousing the elderly in institutional settings is a failed experiment? The for-profit nursing home industry has been found to be corrupt and plagued with widespread fraud and mismanagement (Cite: A 1995 GAO report to Congress entitled “Medicare: Tighter Rules Needed to Curtail Overcharges for Therapy in Nursing Homes”). Additionally, operators have been repeatedly found guilty of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from taxpayers while providing substandard care.

The answer is NOT simply to provide more money for increased staffing; we must also begin the process of moving this country away from the singular dependence on skilled nursing facilities. The long-term solution is for Congress to change the Medicare rules and allow families real options when it comes to long-term care. We need to shift away from institutional settings as the primary option and towards community based care systems: small group homes, adult foster care, home help programs and other such proven concepts. We can save taxpayers money, allow seniors to age with dignity, and make institutionalized nursing care an option of last resort.

The writer is a Tampa-based attorney with the law firm of Wilkes & McHugh, P.A. who represents victims of nursing home abuse.

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