Minnesota Health Commissioner Dr. Ed Ehlinger resigned suddenly Tuesday after a series of reports that the state agency he leads was not doing enough to protect seniors from neglect and abuse.
Ehlinger’s resignation was effective at the end of the day Tuesday. He will be replaced on an interim basis by Dan Pollock, the deputy health commissioner.
Ehlinger’s resignation comes after media reports, including a five-part series in the Minneapolis-based Star Tribune, found residents of senior care facilities statewide were neglected, abused and robbed, but the perpetrators were often never punished and in most instances complaints were never properly investigated. The state Department of Health is responsible for licensing and oversight of senior care centers.
In February, the Pioneer Press reported the health department investigated just 10 percent of the 3,400 complaints it received about public nursing homes and home-care treatment. When facilities self-reported allegations, there were even fewer on-site inspections by the state — just 1 percent of nearly 21,000 allegations in 2016.
Earlier this month, state lawmakers said former health department employee Nancy Omondi was fired after she “blew the whistle” on the “toxic culture” of the system meant to protect the elderly. Omondi was let go just days before she was set to meet with an investigator examining widespread problems with how Minnesota investigates elder abuse.
Sen. Karin Housley, R-St. Mary’s Point, who chairs the Senate Aging and Long-Term Care Policy Committee, said “systemic” change was needed at the health department.
“There is no question – this change in leadership is desperately needed,” Housely said in a statement. “While the resignation of Commissioner Ehlinger is a step forward, there is much work to do to restore the trust of the most vulnerable Minnesotans.”
A spokesman for Gov. Mark Dayton said the governor and Ehlinger “mutually agreed” the commissioner should resign.
A statement from Dayton’s office said the governor and acting Commissioner Pollock would immediately work to improve the state’s efforts to protect seniors and properly investigate claims of abuse and neglect.
“We will do everything possible to ensure our parents, grandparents, and vulnerable loved ones get the excellent care they need, the safety they expect, and the justice they deserve,” Pollock said in a statement.
Those efforts include the state Department of Human Services’ Office of Inspector General working with the health department to improve investigatory procedures as well as the hiring of more investigators.
The department is also partnering with MN.IT Services to begin using a new electronic records system for health facility complaints. The new system should be in place by early next year and will help the health department respond to abuse allegations more quickly.
Dayton and Will Phillips, director of AARP Minnesota, have also formed a new work group that will recommend to the Legislature ways Minnesota can improve the health and safety of seniors in nursing homes and assisted-living facilities. Those recommendations are expected ahead of the 2018 legislative session that begins in February.
Dave Orrick contributed to this report.