This week I want to discuss important federal regulatory changes that will affect millions of elderly dependent adults who are residing in nursing homes. Many of these adults, or their children, have unwittingly signed away their constitutional rights to resolution of their grievances by a civil jury selected from their communities instead agreeing to binding arbitration: a process which favors businesses over consumers.
Last month, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued new rules prohibiting nursing homes, which receive federals funds through Medicare or Medicaid, from requiring patients to agree to arbitrate any legal claims against the nursing home at any time before a dispute arises or as a condition of admission. CMS is a federal agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.