Dean Florez for California Lt. Governor 2010: Senior Care

“You can’t stand for your convictions if you always stand with the crowd.”
-Dean Florez

Senior Care Pharmacists

Today, nearly two of every five dollars (43%) of total potential consumption by the elderly is spent on health care. It is predicted that by 2024, health care will equal 50% of total consumption by seniors. For those aged 75 and older, health care is already greater than 50% of total consumption and is still expected to rise. Consideration for family caregivers will be elevated by enacting new protections that prohibit discrimination against individuals who are the sole caregivers for older relatives. Dean believes one solution to lessen the burden may be to increase the presence of senior care pharmacists in each patient setting (i.e. nursing home, assisted living, hospital, etc). The presence of clinical pharmacists has been shown to improve medication utilization and decrease adverse events, resulting in lower costs.

Rate Nursing Homes

Today, 547 of California’s 1254 Medicare and Medi–Cal certified nursing homes earned 1–star (much below average) or 2–star (below average) ratings based on federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service’s 5–Star rating system, which is designed to give consumers information to compare certified nursing homes throughout the nation. Dean wants to create a public rating system that includes citations issued by the state to California nursing homes. He also wants to end the self–reporting by nursing homes, given they often pad their staffing in the two–week period just before inspections. Dean will fight for a system in California that focuses on quality of care, quality of life and ends violations of residents’ rights.

Social HMOs

To add to the hardship of the high cost of prescription drugs, many of our seniors find it hard to bathe, dress themselves and prepare their own meals. Many can no longer drive their car, live alone and have no relatives living nearby. Dean believes that California must implement a program that meets the comprehensive needs of seniors and encourages independence delivered in a cost-effective manner. Some believe that a model for the program exists in what is called a Social HMO, which takes into account medical care and social services, and assists people who have long-term chronic conditions. The goal is to keep frail older Americans out of nursing homes by sending a health care worker to deliver benefits that include care management, light housekeeping, personal care, home delivered meals, both institutional and in-home caregiver relief, adult-day-care, short-term nursing home benefits, transportation and electronic monitoring.

Throughout his legislative career Dean has supported new laws to address the issue of elder physical and financial abuse. He lead the effort in supporting legislation (AB 255; 2002) that increased the number of people who are mandated to report elder and dependent adult abuse and authorized the sharing of information between Adult Protective Services and district attorneys. He also voted in favor of doubling the jail time for battery against an elder or dependent adult.

The following year, Dean supported a new law (SB 620; 2003) that placed tight restrictions on advertising that targets seniors. The new law expanded the scope of restrictions to life insurance and annuity sales, requiring agents and brokers to refrain from high pitch sales in the home of a senior.

Dean also supported a new law to allow adult protective services to gain access to financial information from financial institutions when investigating elder financial abuse. The law also made it a crime not to report elder financial abuse.