## LongTerm Care Ombudsman Annual Report: Fiscal Year 1995

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## Preface

This report is about people and a program on the front line inprotecting the rights of and advocating for good care for one ofthe most vulnerable groups in our society: older people living inlong-term care facilities. 

The Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program, which was conceived andnurtured in its early years by the late Dr. Arthur S. Flemming,today is planted firmly in communities throughout this land.Through paid staff and trained volunteers, it is providing, on adaily basis, the community presence in facilities which Dr.Flemming envisioned and a voice for those who often cannot speakor act on their own behalf. 

I am proud and honored to issue this, the first comprehensiveombudsman report developed by the Administration on Aging (AoA)based on the new National Ombudsman Reporting System (NORS). Thedata and narrative graphically depict problems facility residentsexperience, how ombudsmen have worked to address these problemsand their recommendations for change, and the extent of ombudsmanoperations and activity around the country. 

The NORS was designed over a period of almost two years byteams of state ombudsmen, working through the NationalAssociation of State Ombudsman Programs (NASOP), together withAoA staff. It is based on the ombudsmen's experience managingstatewide ombudsman programs and their judgment as to whichinformation would accurately reflect their work, and assist themin training staff and volunteers and advocating for residents.State and Area Agency on Aging directors and their nationalorganizations provided important guidance. 

This report, including the appendices, contains a wealth ofinformation about the institutional long-term care system and howthe states are operating their ombudsman programs. The report andthe appendices will assist health care policy makers, stateagency on aging directors and others who manage ombudsmanprograms, and ombudsmen themselves, to learn more about: 

- circumstances facing long term care residents; 
- areas to stress in training and educating advocates and        providers; 
- ombudsman proposals for addressing both emerging and        long-standing major institutional care issues; and 
- program structure and operation in other states. 

Many individuals deserve credit and thanks for their role indeveloping both the NORS and this first report. They areidentified in the Acknowledgments section on page . I deeplyappreciate all of their efforts and hope this report will be animportant tool for those who advocate on behalf of residents oflong-term care facilities. 

The Administration on Aging is proud of the contribution whichombudsmen, legal assistance developers and providers, benefitscounselors, information and referral representatives, state andarea agency on aging staff, and many others in the nationalnetwork on aging make in providing information to and advocatingon behalf of residents and potential residents. Through theirpersistent, and often remarkably creative, representation of theresidents' needs and wishes, they are helping to improve thequality of care and life for thousands of current and futureresidents of long term care facilities. 

**William F. Benson**Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Aging 

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For questions about the LTC Ombudsman Program, contact Sue WheatonHypertext conversion by Saadia Greenberg,June 20, 1997