U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis co-authored a letter demanding that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services provide information about the steps it is taking to protect seniors in nursing homes.

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Tarpon Springs, has joined three other elected officials in demanding answers from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services about the steps it is taking to fulfill its obligation to protect seniors in nursing homes that are under the Medicaid and/or Medicare program.

In making the demands, Bilirakis co-authored a letter Monday (April 2) with Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden, Health Subcommittee Chairman Michael Burgess, and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Gregg Harper. To read the letter, click here.

The letter comes after an October Congressional investigatory hearing into the death of residents at a Rehabilitation Center in Hollywood Hills following Hurricane Irma, multiple media reports of neglectful and abusive treatment of seniors, and significant concerns highlighted in recent reports issued by the Office of Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

“It is said that a society is measured by how well it treats its most vulnerable citizens,” Bilirakis said Monday. “The testimony and stories I have heard over the past several months regarding the widespread neglect and abuse of the elderly and disabled are shocking, heart-wrenching and frankly completely unacceptable. The federal government has to take seriously its oversight responsibility and hold those who are failing to protect our seniors accountable for their crimes and bureaucratic mismanagement. Today we are calling on CMS to engage in this vital role in a more proactive manner, and I am eager to work with them to do whatever it takes to make sure every senior is safe.”

Bilirakis represents Florida Congressional District 12, which includes all of Pasco and northern parts of Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.

For information about Bilirakis, go to bilirakis.house.gov.

Gus Bilirakis | Health Care | Nursing Homes | Medicare | Medicaid | Tampabay News

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