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Last fiscal year, the state investigated complaints of elderly neglect in state-licensed care homes and private residences at a rate of about one a day; in nearly half of those cases, investigators confirmed neglect.

While such a rate may sound troubling in a state with only about 12,000 beds in long-term elder care facilities, it may actually be substantially worse. The state’s practice of inspecting community care foster facility homes mainly after announcing investigators are on their way leaves much room for serious problems to be covered up.

As Civil Beat’s Nathan Eagle reported Wednesday in an in-depth look at policy and practice relative to inspections of Hawaii’s CCFFHs, these community care facilities account for a steadily increasing share of Hawaii’s elder care.

The state has the legal authority to do unannounced inspections. But Department of Health officials say they don’t have the staffing capacity to conduct surprise visits.

The heartbreaking story of Nona Mosman, who died in 2013 at the age of 88 following a stay in Divine Home Health Care, raised awareness of the dangers of neglect in CCFFH facilities. Mosman’s primary care provider routinely left her with an unlicensed relative. The care home operator was eventually convicted of manslaughter in Mosman’s death, sentenced to a year in prison and ordered to pay more than $14,000 in restitution and fines.

Mosman’s neglect was so severe that by the time social workers checked on her, they discovered she was suffering from an ulcer that extended to her hip bone and lying in urine-soaked diapers in a soiled bed. She died only four days after being removed from Divine Home.

Surprise inspections might have ensured the facility wasn’t simply dressing itself up for the announced certification visits. Investigators might have discovered what came out in the criminal case — that the care home operator wasn’t doing much of the care-giving at all.

There are other signs, too, that the state has not made care of our kupuna a priority. State law seals complaints against elder care facilities — ostensibly, to protect the privacy of complainants — and the Office of Health Care Assurance heavily redacts facility inspection reports, information that people considering putting their loved one in a home should be able to access.

Hawaii only began posting the reports online earlier this year. Before that, people wanting to check on a facility had to go the state office in person, a process that often involved a lengthy delay in getting the reports. In an earlier series of stories, Civil Beat’s Eagle called attention to the fact that the office had failed to post a single inspection report, even though lawmakers had mandated posting the reports two years earlier.

The reality is that the state fails to provide meaningful inspections of CCFFHs, obscures care complaints when they arise and has resisted making information on care facilities readily accessible to the public.

These are not new issues for state legislators. But a strong lobbying effort by the care home facilities has so far trumped the public interest — and the interests of our elderly and vulnerable residents.

In 2003, lawmakers bowed to care home lobbying and scrapped a proposal to make unannounced inspections mandatory. Yet legislators who have an interest in better oversight of the industry recognize that the issue needs to be addressed.

As Rep. Marcus Oshiro told Eagle, announced inspections only allow care providers to create a “contrived scenario,” adding, “We have unannounced for work sites … so why shouldn’t we have it for care homes, especially for a population that is physically limited and mentally challenged?”

These issues are problematic now, but if not addressed, they stand to grow substantially in the near future.

Hawaii’s elderly population is a larger portion of our state’s population than the national average and is .���� projected two years ago that the number of elderly in Hawaii would grow from about 205,000 in 2013 to nearly 327,000 in 2030, about 40,000 of whom would be expected to need long-term care.

Failing to get in front of this issue now would make it virtually certain that the suffering experienced by Nona Mosman would be extended to many more vulnerable elders throughout our islands each year.

Lawmakers and Gov. David Ige need to make issues surrounding our kupuna a priority in the coming legislative session.

First, unannounced inspections must be made mandatory for all adult care residential facilities. Second, that change must be accompanied by funding for additional inspectors for the state’s Adult Protective Services program. Requiring surprise inspections without providing sufficient staff to execute them would be unacceptable.

And third, complaints against care homes need to be made public and easily accessible. Keeping the records secret only protects problem facilities and means prospective residents and their families can’t get information critical to judging a facility’s fitness.

None of this is to say all CCFFHs are problematic or neglectful. To the contrary, they and other adult care residential facilities provide critical services for Hawaii’s elders and their families, most with great empathy and professionalism.

Hawaiian values once afforded kupuna a place of respect, dignity and near reverence in communities throughout our islands. Let us make 2016 the year that our modern practice is brought into alignment with those traditional values.