Aging News Alert

Website Offers State Rankings on Protecting the Elderly

 

The District of Columbia ranks first in the nation when it comes to protecting the elderly from abuse. South Carolina ranks last. That’s the findings reported by WalletHub, the online financial advisory. In order to determine the states with the best protection against elder abuse, WalletHub’s analysts compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across three key dimensions: (1) Prevalence, (2) Resources and (3) Protection. The analysts evaluated these dimensions using 10 key metrics (see below) with their corresponding weights. Each metric was scored on a 100-point scale, with 100 representing the “best protection against elder abuse.” Finally, the analysts calculated the overall score for each state based on its weighted average across all metrics and used the resulting scores to rank the states accordingly. Prevalence – Total Points: 40 Share of Elder-Abuse, Gross Neglect and Exploitation Complaints: Full Weight (~40.00 Points)(Notes: This metric was calculated by dividing the number of elder-abuse, gross neglect and exploitation complaints by the number of residents aged 65 and older. “Complaints” include those made to the Office of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman.) Resources – Total Points: 30 Total Expenditures on Elder-Abuse Prevention per Resident Aged 65 & Older: Full Weight (~10.00 Points) Total Expenditures on Legal-Assistance Development per Resident Aged 65 & Older: Full Weight (~10.00 Points) Total Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program Funding per Resident Aged 65 & Older: Full Weight (~10.00 Points) Protection – Total Points: 30 Financial Elderly-Abuse Laws: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)(Note: This is a binary metric that considers the presence or absence of such legislation.) Eldercare Organizations & Services per Resident Aged 65 & Older: Full Weight (~5.00 Points) Presence of Elder-Abuse Forensic Centers: Full Weight (~5.00 Points) Number of Certified Volunteer Ombudsmen per Resident Aged 65 & Older: Full Weight (~5.00 Points) Frequency of Assisted-Living Facilities Inspections: Full Weight (~5.00 Points) Quality of Nursing Homes: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)(Note: This metric measures the percentage of certified nursing-home beds rated 4 or 5 stars.)                                          State Rankings on Elder-Abuse Protections Overall Rank State Total Score ‘Prevalence’ Rank ‘Resources’ Rank ‘Protection’ Rank 1 District of Columbia 71.46 25 2 4 2 Nevada 70.92 2 3 27 3 Massachusetts 66.62 10 8 12 4 Wisconsin 66.14 12 4 33 5 Missouri 65.22 11 15 8 6 Tennessee 60.14 16 16 16 7 Iowa 59.78 8 20 18 8 Louisiana 59.76 1 14 42 9 Vermont 59.59 6 21 19 10 Hawaii 58.78 5 49 3 11 New York 58.44 9 48 1 12 Pennsylvania 58.33 4 32 13 13 Georgia 57.68 19 12 35 14 West Virginia 57.59 28 10 24 15 Maryland 55.56 33 6 21 16 North Carolina 55.25 18 31 9 17 Maine 53.23 23 27 14 18 Kansas 52.59 21 43 11 19 New Hampshire 51.79 3 36 38 20 Washington 50.63 31 35 10 21 Delaware 50.53 26 30 23 22 Arizona 50.05 36 5 46 23 Texas 50.00 15 45 29 24 Indiana 49.85 13

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