Multiple key informants spoke about the significant impact of the closure of this hospital in Allegheny County and the western part of the state as it relates to the possible continued proliferation of illegally unlicensed personal care homes. In Georgia, all unlicensed personal care homes are illegal, and thus to remain in operation they try to avoid being identified. (2013). Targeted searches of media reports in states with the lowest percentages (New Jersey, Mississippi, Indiana, Florida, and Michigan) did not yield a higher number of reports on unlicensed care facilities than those with the highest spending rates for HCBS (Arizona, Vermont, Alaska, Minnesota, and Oregon). Potential Data Sources or Listings of Unlicensed Care Homes, 5.3. The main goal of these efforts is to shut down facilities where residents are financially exploited, abused, neglected, or subject to unsanitary and unsafe conditions. For example, one key informant described a recent case of a representative payee in an unlicensed care home who was not managing a resident's money correctly, by providing food on a specific schedule and not providing it when the resident was hungry and requested food. From 2008 to 2013, Pennsylvania reported a stable trend of investigating about ten illegally unlicensed care homes per year with the exception of 2010 when they investigated 27 cases, about three times more than in other years.6. Fraud reports have been filed with the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development for the misuse of funds to send users from Puerto Rico to unlicensed rehabilitation centers in the United States. Additionally, interviewee discussions revealed a lack of ombudsman involvement in unlicensed care homes, which is another area for future research. Owners of current small licensed personal care homes are also potential sources of information; they will be able to fully describe the monetary costs associated with licensure, and these costs appear to be one reason why some people choose to operate illegally. Site visit locations were based on the information gathered in the environmental scan, SME interviews, and a review of residential care regulations. This generally creates a care ratio of three guests to one care provider. With regard to recruiting residents from hospitals, we also heard of unlicensed care home operators receiving payments of up to a month's fees from hospitals anxious to discharge the residents to free up hospital beds. Key informant interviews focused on local context, state and local policies that may impact or affect the demand for unlicensed care homes, and informants' direct experiences with unlicensed care homes. Residential Care providers must be licensed as an assisted living facility and have a contract with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. This key informant indicated that this change likely increased the need for licensed group homes, and unlicensed group homes may have also opened as a way to fill the need created as a result of these closures. In 2005, Pennsylvania changed the regulations so all residential care homes with four or more individuals had to be licensed by the state, but 1-3 bed residential care homes still could be legally unlicensed. All rights reserved. Media reports were usually about an action by a licensing agency, Medicaid Fraud Unit, APS, or the police arresting an operator; these reports do not provide much information about the extent to which unlicensed homes exist in the state. However, we did not hear any specific examples of this from the state or local level. We chose the Raleigh/Durham area for the site visit because it is where the state licensing agency is located and because of recent media reports of unlicensed group homes. Although the majority of key informants described unlicensed care homes as unsafe environments where residents are abused, neglected, or exploited, it also was noted that some unlicensed care homes may provide quality care in safe and clean environments.
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