We like a new initiative rolled out recently by state Attorney General Dana Nessel and her crew, aimed at helping protect nursing home patients.

What we have here is an online portal that will allow complaints to be filed on behalf of nursing home residents, especially in the area of financial exploitation.

“This portal will provide an avenue for nursing home employees to report suspected embezzlement and financial exploitation,” Nessel said in a written statement. “If a facility knows a resident has a stream of income, but their patient account is in the red, it may be a warning sign that someone is siphoning away the patient’s assets. That concern can be reported via this portal directly to our team to evaluate for investigation. We look forward to working collaboratively with the long-term care community to root out and prosecute any suspected abuse.”

The new portal is now live and focuses on the tenth initiative in the state Elder Abuse Task Force’s second set of initiatives. Nursing home administrators will provide information directly to the department’s Health Care Fraud Division for follow-up and investigation.

If concerned staff knows or has reason to believe that someone is using a nursing home resident’s assets or benefits for purposes other than the care, needs and wishes of the resident, a complaint may be filed online.

The complaint system is accessed directly through the department’s website at www.michigan.gov/ag/complaints.

Nursing home residents are among our most vulnerable citizens, very often completely dependent on others.

Will this portal solve all of the problems in this area? Of course not. But it is a step in the right direction.

— Mining Journal