Lawmakers press for fixes on elder abuse reporting
State officials told Minnesota lawmakers Wednesday that work is underway to improve the system for investigating allegations of elder abuse.
Acting-Minnesota Department of Health commissioner Dan Pollock told members of two Minnesota Senate committees that recent reports of failures in that system, which include a massive a backlog of yet-to-be investigated complaints, were shocking and embarrassing.
Pollock said he and others are working to rebuild public trust.
“If we have failed even a single vulnerable adult in this state, we owe them an apology, and I apologize,” Pollock said. “We openly acknowledge that the OHFC, the Office of Health Facilities Complaints, really has not met the reasonable and appropriate expectations of Minnesotans when it comes to investigating maltreatment complaints in a timely way.”
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Gov. Mark Dayton directed Pollock’s department and the Department of Human Services late last year to assign additional staff to work on the backlog of complaints. They’re also working on technology improvements to speed up the process. Pollock and Human Services Commissioner Emily Piper detailed the progress on those initiatives.
Representatives of the senior care industry told lawmakers that providers are working to reduce the number of complaints.
“Maltreatment of a vulnerable adult is unacceptable and must be stopped,” said Toby Pearson of Care Providers of Minnesota.
But state Sen. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka, wanted more. Abeler, who chairs of the Senate human services reform committee, said he needed to hear a mea culpa from the providers.
“This is an inferno, it’s not smoke,” Abeler said. “There are too many cases.”