9 Investigates home healthcare dangers

ORLANDO, Fla. — Hospice and home healthcare are often choices adults make for their aging parents.

It's a $72 billion dollar a year industry, that in Florida, is filled with limited oversight and loopholes.

Most information available to the public through the state only shows clerical mistakes made by facilities, not injuries and we found the federal database is limited as well, grading centers, but offering little else.

Reporter Christopher Heath exposes why claims of abuse and neglect don’t always get investigated.

Watch this story Thursday on Channel 9 Eyewitness News at 5:30 p.m.

In 2015, Gloria Cepeda was a resident at Good Samaritan in Kissimmee. Somehow, the 80-year-old suffered two broken bones. An internal investigation by Good Samaritan concluded the injuries did not happen at its facility.  Gloria now lives at home with her daughter.

“It was something that we didn’t expect,”  said daughter Shirley Cepeda.

The Cepeda family asked the Florida Department of Children and Families to look into the injuries. Its investigation failed to shed light on what happened. The family consulted with attorneys, but none would take the case. Without a civil case and without a conclusion by either the facility or the state, the injury to Gloria has gone virtually unreported.

This is the state of elder-care in Florida.

“If you look at the ratings sights, that the government puts out, it’s not going to be accurate, because they don’t get accurate information,” said attorney Melvin Wright. “Things happen and nobody finds out because they are just not reported.”

Wright estimates based on the cases his office handles that upwards of 90 percent of all issues involving elder care go unreported to the state or federal government.

“We’re often the first ones to tell a family, you should report this,” said Wright.

The state does have inspectors for facilities. Agency for Health Care Administration, AHCA, has 281 surveyor positions. The agency said in 2016 it conducted 880 home heath surveys and 6,425 assisted living facility surveys following up on everything from complaints to certification.

The problem, according to advocates, is that many times it falls on the family, like in the Cepeda case, to contact authorities and request an investigation.

“There is only so much information that you will get,” said Shirley. “You have no answers.”

Cox Media Group