October 2025 What’s New? 2023 Annual Report of the Kentucky Office of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program The 2023 Annual Report of the Kentucky Office of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program is complete. Our Office serves as an independent advocacy service for individuals living in Kentucky’s long-term care (LTC) facilities. Long-term care ombudsmen, […]
Category Archives: News
September 2025 What’s New? Residents’ Rights October is Residents’ Rights Month, this year’s theme, Stand with Me, highlights the importance of solidarity and support for residents who stand up and advocate for their rights, as well as the value of encouraging the community to join residents in sharing their voices. Learn more about Residents’ Rights Month Pictured […]
August 2025 What’s New? According to the Kentucky Department of Public Health COVID-19 activity is increasing but remains low. Check out the department’s Respiratory Viruses webpage as we move into fall and winter and learn more about COVID-19, flu and RSV. Personal Needs Allowance for Nursing Facility Residents Personal Needs Allowance (PNA) is a monthly sum […]
July 2025 What’s New? INVOLUNTARY Involuntary, a short film documenting the impact of involuntary discharges on nursing home residents, focuses on Carlton, a man in his 70s suffering from dementia, who is moved from a nursing home in the middle of the night. Involuntary and inappropriate discharges from nursing homes have long plagued […]
June 2025 What’s New? Study Proposes Using Nursing Home Case-Mix to Lead Staffing Decisions A study led by University of California researcher Charlene Harrington and published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society proposed using a nursing home’s case-mix index as a way to set expected daily nurse staffing levels. Under the Patient Driven Payment Model, the […]
May 2025 What’s New? The Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program: Vital Resident-Directed Advocacy In April of this year, a budget passback from the Office of Management & Budget (OMB) to the Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS) proposed to cut $40 billion from the DHHS 2026 budget. Each year, government agencies submit their proposed budget to […]
April 2025 What’s New? The Kentucky LTC Ombudsman Program held 20 LTC Forums organized by District LTC Ombudsmen and featuring 145 nursing home residents from 83 facilities across the Commonwealth during October Residents’ Rights Month 2024. The primary objectives of the forums were to: promote the voice of Kentucky’s nursing home residents; strengthen their […]
March 2025 What’s New? Advocating for Quality Care: Legislative Updates from the 2025 Kentucky General Assembly In the final days of the legislative session, the Kentucky General Assembly moved numerous bills through the legislative process with packed committee agendas and swift procedural decisions. Of the nine bills our agency advocated in support of, two were […]
What’s New? Advocating for Quality Care: Legislative Updates from the 2025 Kentucky General Assembly The 2025 legislative session of the Kentucky General Assembly has passed its halfway mark and the last day of the session, March 28th’s Sine Die, is fast approaching. Our agency remains committed to advocating for policies that improve the quality of […]
January 2025 Advocating for Quality Care: Legislative Updates from the 2025 Kentucky General Assembly The 2025 legislative session of the Kentucky General Assembly is underway, and our agency remains committed to advocating for policies that improve the quality of care and quality of life for residents in long-term care facilities. Senate Bill 27, sponsored by […]