Support the Long Term Care Ombudsman Program (LTCOP)

New York’s Long Term Care Ombudsman Program (LTCOP) for nursing home oversight plays a vital role in ensuring our most vulnerable residents are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve. LTCOP helps residents and family caregivers understand and exercise residents’ rights and intervenes to help protect residents by resolving specific quality-of-care issues. But it currently lacks the funding needed to maintain a regular presence in all nursing homes across New York State.

With the final state budget being negotiated in Albany, now is the time for lawmakers to ensure this watchdog has the resources necessary to be an effective advocate for New York’s nursing home residents.

Please join us in urging your state lawmakers to fully fund LTCOP in the final state budget.

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Dear Governor Hochul and state lawmakers,

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New York’s nursing home residents deserve to live with dignity and respect and receive quality care. Unfortunately, over 82% of all adult facilities including nursing homes did not receive a weekly ombudsman visit, which is the goal of the program. We must do better for our most vulnerable residents, and an additional $12.5 million funding would move us a long way toward achieving that goal.

This crucial program addresses complaints of residents in long-term care facilities and advocates for improvements in the long-term care system. Currently, the program is severely underfunded and reliant on volunteers. LTCOP volunteers are restricted in the scope as well as the number of facilities they can visit. This limits the program’s ability to cover all facilities. The program needs more professional staff to conduct weekly visits so all facilities can have a regular ombudsman presence, leading to improved quality of care.

This additional $12.5 million would help with LTCOP’s stated goal of maintaining a weekly presence in nursing homes across New York State. I urge Governor Hochul and my state legislators to stand up for nursing home residents and their loved ones by including an additional $12.5 million in LTCOP funding in the final state budget.

Sincerely,

[First Name] [Last Name]
[Your Address]

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