42 U.S.C. § 3058i — Prevention of elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation

(a) Establishment. To qualify for an allotment under section 3058b from funds under section 3058a for this subpart, a State agency must, after consulting area agencies on aging and following this section, develop and improve programs addressing elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation. This section does not define those quoted terms. (b) Use of allotments. The State agency must use the allotment through those programs to develop, strengthen, and operate programs for prevention, detection, assessment, treatment, intervention, investigation, and response concerning elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation, including: (1) public education and outreach to identify and prevent it; (2) education and outreach promoting financial literacy and preventing identity theft and financial exploitation of older individuals; (3) coordination of area-agency services with State adult-protection services, State and local law enforcement, and courts with jurisdiction; (4) information and data systems, including reporting systems, to measure its extent in the State; (5) submitting data to the Administration’s appropriate database or another database specified by the Assistant Secretary; (6) analyzing State information and identifying unmet service, enforcement, or intervention needs; (7) training caregivers, professionals, and paraprofessionals in relevant fields to identify, prevent, and treat it, especially prevention, self-determination, and autonomy; (8) providing technical assistance to programs that provide, or have the potential to provide, services for elder-abuse, neglect, and exploitation victims and their family members; (9) conducting special, ongoing training for individuals involved in serving elder-abuse, neglect, and exploitation victims on self-determination, individual rights, confidentiality requirements, and other State-selected subjects; (10) developing a system that includes all of the following: (A) a State law giving reporters immunity from prosecution under State or local law arising from reporting; (B) prompt investigation by a State agency after a report of known or suspected abuse, neglect, or exploitation, and protective action, including referral, after a finding; (C) statewide administrative procedures, specially trained personnel such as forensic specialists, training procedures, public and private facilities, and multidisciplinary programs and services, including financial-exploitation protections, needed to handle cases effectively; (D) confidentiality of records to protect older individuals’ rights; (E) cooperation among law enforcement, courts, and human-service agencies; (F) participation by the older individual in welfare decisions and least restrictive options for an abused, neglected, or exploited individual; and (G) a State clearinghouse giving the public information about the problems, relevant facilities, and prevention and treatment methods; (11) examining and testing “safe havens,” meaning shelters at home or elsewhere, that recognize autonomy and self-determination and fully protect due-process rights; (12) multidisciplinary elder-justice work, including team responses involving social-service, health-care, public-safety, and legal fields; a State coordinating council identifying State needs and advising the Assistant Secretary; support, training, technical help, outreach, and education for State multidisciplinary groups; broader study of elder fatality and serious-injury review-team models, including composition, protocols, functions, timing, roles, and responsibilities, so other States and communities can replicate them as needed; best practices in long-term-care facilities to reduce resident abuse, including resident-to-resident abuse; and innovative community practices, programs, and materials creating cross-disciplinary partnerships for prevention, investigation, and prosecution; and (13) addressing underserved older people, including those in rural locations, minority populations, and low-income groups. (c) Approach. In developing and improving programs, the State agency must use a comprehensive approach, in consultation with area agencies on aging, to identify and assist older individuals subject to abuse, neglect, or exploitation, including people in licensed or unlicensed facilities and domestic or community settings. (d) Coordination. The State agency must coordinate these programs with other State and local programs for protecting vulnerable adults, especially older people, including area-agency programs, adult protective services, the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman program, protection-and-advocacy programs, facility and provider licensing and certification, Medicaid fraud and abuse services including State Medicaid fraud control units, victim assistance, consumer protection, State and local law enforcement, other programs identifying and assisting vulnerable older people, and services of agencies and courts with jurisdiction. (e) Requirements. The State agency must (1) not allow alleged victims, abusers, or household members to participate involuntarily or through coercion; (2) keep information gathered while receiving a report under subsection (b)(10)(B)(i) or making a referral under (b)(10)(B)(ii) confidential unless (A) all parties consent in writing, (B) it is released to law enforcement, public protective services, a licensing or certification agency, an ombudsman program, or a protection-and-advocacy system, or (C) a court orders release; and (3) make reasonable efforts to resolve confidentiality conflicts with other public agencies through memoranda of understanding narrowly limiting disclosure. (f) Designation. The State agency may designate a State entity to carry out the programs and activities in this subpart. (g) Study and report. (1) The Secretary, consulting the Treasury Department, the Attorney General, State attorneys general, and tribal and local prosecutors, must study the nature and extent of older-person financial exploitation. The study must define and describe its scope, estimate the number and types of transactions considered exploitation, and examine whether current Federal and State legal protections are adequate. (2) Within 18 months after November 13, 2000, the Secretary must report to Congress the study results and recommendations for future action against financial exploitation. (h) Accountability measures. The Assistant Secretary must develop measures to ensure these activities work effectively. (i) Evaluating programs. The Assistant Secretary must evaluate activities under this section using funds under section 3017(h). (j) Compliance with applicable laws. To receive funds for this section, an entity must comply with all applicable laws, regulations, and guidelines.