Governor Schwarzenegger Cuts State Funding for Ombudsman Program
Governor Schwarzenegger's recent state budget cut state funding for local ombudsman programs in California. These local nursing home ombudsman programs investigate complaints at nursing facilities. The local budget for California ombudsman is approximately $200,000; Governor Schwarzenegger's recent budget cut $35,000 from that budget, or 1.25 positions out of 3.7 positions. The loss will make it increasingly difficult for the ombudsman program to respond to complaints at nursing facilities and to provide desperately needed training for facilities on abuse prevention. Kathleen Johnson of Advocacy, Inc., which operates ombudsman programs in two California counties, is concerned that the $35,000 cut will trigger an additional $15,000 loss of matching federal funds. This would be a combined budget loss of $50,000, or one-fourth of their operating budget. Ms. Johnson stated that all nursing homes in the counties she deals with have deficiencies that need to be addressed. These cuts will likely create worse conditions.
