A statewide elder mistreatment virtual assessment program: Legal, ethical, and practical issues.
J Am Geriatr Soc
; 69(10): 2759-2765, 2021 10.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1365085
ABSTRACT
Telecommunication assisted forensic assessments of capacity and mistreatment by geriatricians with expertise in elder abuse and self-neglect are helping to meet the demand for such forensic services for Adult Protective Services (APS) clients in remote and underserved areas of Texas. The use of synchronous audiovisual assisted interviews instead of in-person interviews with clients to provide capacity assessments has become more important with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is growing interest in establishing similar programs in other states using geriatrician faculty from medical schools to serve the clients of their state Adult Protective Services agencies. The arrangement between APS and the geriatricians at McGovern Medical School in Houston, Texas is novel. The structure of the arrangement is important for the success of the program. Legal, ethical, and practical considerations are discussed in this article, including approaches to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, physician liability, state law, and resource limitations. It is hoped that sharing how one such collaboration has addressed these important issues will suggest approaches for the structuring of similar programs.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Geriatric Assessment
/
Telemedicine
/
Elder Abuse
/
Forensic Medicine
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Diagnostic study
/
Observational study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Aged
/
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
North America
Language:
English
Journal:
J Am Geriatr Soc
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Jgs.17424
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