Connecticut Mirror reporters Jenna Carlesso and Dave Altimari won first place for the small newsroom division in the 2023 Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism’s health policy category for the four-part series “Connecticut’s Elder Care Reckoning.”
The journalists were among those honored at the Association of Health Care Journalists’ awards luncheon in New York City on June 8.
The series, which was published in the spring of 2023, focused on the issues facing the nursing home and home care industries. The AHCJ received 426 entries for 14 categories and chose 14 first place winners, according to its website.
“It’s an honor to be recognized by the Association of Health Care Journalists for our policy coverage of gaps in the state’s system of care for the elderly,” said Executive Editor Elizabeth Hamilton. “Holding government accountable is central to the mission of The Connecticut Mirror, and we are proud that our work helped lead to reforms that will strengthen state oversight of the elder care industry.”
The CT Mirror’s series explored issues such as staffing shortages at nursing homes, patient concerns about quality of care and the high cost of care options for older adults. It also examined the lack of oversight for the state’s more than 900 homemaker companion agencies. CT Mirror reviewed more than 75 complaints filed against the companies for grievances like theft, deceptive advertising and neglect.
The reporting also shined a light on the ways low-income residents and people of color are locked out of more desirable elder care options.
After the series ran, Gov. Ned Lamont and House Speaker Matthew Ritter each introduced legislation to make changes to the elder care sector.
Ritter’s bill launches a presumptive eligibility program for Medicaid in Connecticut and creates an online registry for home care workers. It also expands oversight of home care aides by mandating that they wear photo identification badges and directing officials to come up with a plan for expanding fingerprinting facilities.
The measure also creates a nursing home dashboard where the public can compare quality ratings and devises an incentive program for nursing homes to earn recognition if they provide high quality care.
Lamont’s bill phases out three- and four-bed nursing home rooms beginning July 1, 2026, by halting new admissions in rooms that already have two people. The move is meant to slow the spread of disease and increase privacy for residents.
It also aims to give the state health department more oversight of nursing home management companies. The department can deny or decline to renew a nursing home management certificate based on past or current discipline, enforce plans of correction against management companies, put management companies under similar scrutiny as it has for change of ownerships, and impose penalties, such as revocation of certificates or civil penalties.
Both bills cleared the House and Senate and were recently signed into law by Lamont.
Earlier this year, Carlesso and Altimari also won the National Press Foundation’s 2023 AARP Award for Excellence in Journalism on Aging and a Publick Occurrences award from the New England Newspaper & Press Association for the series.
Read Connecticut’s Elder Care Reckoning:
CT’s aging population is growing. There are not enough people and facilities to take care of them.
From shifting finances to changing populations, nursing homes are under pressure from all sides
More people want to age outside nursing homes, but some have few options