Category: Consumer Protection
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Norfolk Hipsters & Lefties Try to Block a Military-Themed Brewery
by Kerry Dougherty Now is the time. If you believe that cities ought to be open for business, regardless of the viewpoints of the business owners, if you support the military and don’t consider flag-waving a provocative act, you might want to let Norfolk’s City Council hear from you. On December 12th it is scheduled…
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The Impact of Virginia’s Certificate of Public Need Laws on Nursing Home and Home Health Care Availability and Expenditures
by James C. Sherlock I have come across a major study in the National Institute of Health’s National Library of Medicine that made a point that I have not explored sufficiently to this point. It discusses the intersection of nursing homes, home health care, CON laws like Virginia’s Certificate of Public Need (COPN) law, and…
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NY Ratepayers Better Protected Than Virginia’s
By Steve Haner The New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) last week told several offshore wind developers it would not approve changes in their state contracts, putting several planned ocean turbine projects into jeopardy. The story is important for its contrast to how Virginia faces the same future.
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An Overdue New Federal Rule to Improve Nursing Home Staffing
By James C. Sherlock What would happen if the federal government were to propose for the first time specific nursing home staffing minimums? We are about to find out. A new rule. A new federal proposed rule introduced yesterday has already survived fierce opposition from the industry, which tried to kill it in the womb.…
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Politicians Back Interest-Heavy Fuel Debt Payoff
By Steve Haner Several Virginia legislators have encouraged the State Corporation Commission to allow Dominion Energy Virginia to convert a $1.3 billion unpaid fuel debt into a ten-year revenue stream for the utility, adding up to $370 million in additional costs onto its customers. The SCC will open a hearing Tuesday on the utility’s pending…
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Nursing Shortages Require Better Oversight of Virginia Nursing Homes – Part Two – State Action Required
by James C. Sherlock Patterns of understaffing, medical harm and abuse in nursing homes are traceable: in some cases to a business model of understaffing to increase profits. Federal fines are built into the business models of the bad actors. Some of the worst post double-digit annual operating margins; in some to other systemic chain-wide…
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Nursing Shortages Require Better Oversight of Virginia Nursing Homes – Part One – The Problem
By James C Sherlock We have some great nursing facilities in Virginia. We also have far more than our share of bad ones. Virginia has a decision to make about the latter. The federal government sets standards for those that are paid with federal funds. It both levies fines and denies payments as it feels…
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Predatory Virginia Nursing Home Owners
by James C. Sherlock Merriam Webster: Pred*a*tor: (noun) one who injures or exploits others for personal gain or profit. The most medically vulnerable of us reside in skilled nursing facilities (SNF). Nobody plans to be there, but that is where about thirty thousand Virginians find themselves at any one time. People who are moved from hospitals…
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Past Time for Serious Sanctions for the Commonwealth’s Worst Nursing Homes
by James C. Sherlock Effective May 1 of this year, Karen Shelton M.D. became Virginia’s Health Commissioner. Dr. Shelton is now the licensor and regulator of Virginia’s nursing homes. By law, state-licensed nursing homes must comply with federal and state laws and standards. By regulation, the Health Commissioner “may impose such administrative sanctions or take such…
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Lee Enterprises Newspapers in Virginia Combine Huge Online Subscription Price Increases with Difficult Cancellations
by James C. Sherlock Lee Enterprises, in a bold move, has massively raised prices for online subscriptions to its Virginia newspapers, to some of which I subscribe. Lee’s “brands” here include: The Daily Progress – Charlottesville The Free Lance Star – Fredericksburg Danville Register Bee/Go Dan River – Danville Bristol Herald Courier – Tricities –…
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No New Law or Regulation is Needed for VDH to Sanction Bad Nursing Homes
By James C. Sherlock This is Part 2 of this series. Part 1 is here. I will offer here a deeper sense of Virginia’s bad nursing homes. And of the historic lack of adequate regulation by the state. Start with the fact that even the worst of them are still open. Centers for Medicare &…
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Scandal in Plain Sight – Virginia’s Failed Regulation of Law-Avoiding Nursing Home Owners
by James C. Sherlock One of the most important and heart-wrenching decisions families make for their elderly loved ones is whether they are able to keep them in their homes as they get older and sicker. Sometimes that is not feasible for a long list of reasons in each case. More than 30,000 Virginians live…
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Note to Hybrid and EV Owners and Those in Collisions with Them – Don’t Try to Extinguish a Battery Fire
by James C. Sherlock CNBC reported today as breaking news a concern about hybrid and electric vehicle fires that professional firefighters have known about for some time. Vehicles with lithium-ion batteries can be especially dangerous when they catch fire. CNBC offers a video showing smoke billowing from three electric pickups parked tightly together. Moments later,…
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The More Things Remain the Same
by Joe Fitzgerald Stop me if you’ve heard this one. The Hopewell chemical plant where Kepone was born and raised has been cited 66 times over the past eight years for releasing toxic chemicals into the air and into the James River. The Richmond Times-Dispatch tells the story better than I do. What makes this…
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Virginia Hospital Profits Soared Far Above National Averages – Again – in 2021
by James C. Sherlock The predictions for hospital finances in 2021 forecast Armageddon. Then the actual financial data from 5,600 U.S. hospitals in 2021 were assessed. Based on those data the median operating margin for U.S. hospitals in 2021 was actually a loss of 1.5%. Meanwhile, the average operating margin for hospitals was a loss of…