|
2003 GAO Report on Death Care Industry
Download Full Report
Highlights of the GAO report:
"GAO's research shows that states vary in their approach to regulating the various segments of the death care industry...." (from "Highlights" page)
"The majority of states regulate funeral homes, crematories, cemeteries, and pre-need sales of funeral plans, although the specific licensing requirements vary across the states. Fewer states regulate third party sales of funeral goods. Further, even in those states that regulate each industry segment, not all businesses or practitioners may be subject to licensing or regulation." ("Highlights")
"Most states also require inspections of funeral homes and crematories, but fewer states require inspections of cemeteries...." ("Highlights")
"Since January 1, 2000, a majority of states have taken enforcement actions against funeral homes, funeral directors, or embalmers for violations of a variety of state rules or regulations. Fewer states, however, have taken such actions against the other industry segments." ("Highlights")
"According to the National Center for Health Statistics, there were about 2.4 million deaths registered in the United States in 2000-the most recent year for which complete data are available." (p. 2)
"...the North American Funeral Directors Association (sic) reports that of the 2.4 million deaths in 2000, approximately 75 percent resulted in earth burial or emtombment and 25 percent resulted in cremation." (p. 2)
"[The GAO provides] an estimate of over $9.3 billion spent each year on funeral costs alone in the United States.... data on cremation costs were not available." (p. 2)
"Today, a growing number of consumers who purchase funeral and cemetery goods and services have shopped around in advance." (p. 3)
"Since the Funeral Rule only applies to businesses providing both funeral goods and services, it generally does not apply to crematories, cemeteries, or third party sales and funeral goods since these businesses usually provide only merchandise or only services. Aside from FTC's Funeral Rule, there is no regulation that specifically addresses the marketing practices of the death care industry at the federal level." (p. 3)
"[Complaint data gathered by GAO] were not comprehensive because (1) complaint data are not systematically gathered within states or across states, (2) there is no central repository for death care industry complaint data, (3) not all consumers who experience problems in their death care transactions file complaints, and (4) some consumers may file the same complaint with more than one organization." (p. 4)
"Results of our surveys of state regulators covering the various segments of the death care industry show that funeral homes are regulated and licensed more than any other segment of the death care industry. Table 1 shows that of the 48 states that responded to our survey regarding funeral homes, 45 reported that they regulate funeral homes...." (p. 6)
"Since January 1, 2000, a majority of the states have taken enforcement actions against funeral homes, funeral directors, or embalmers for violations of state rules or regulations." (p. 7)
"It must be noted that a low number of enforcement actions taken by a state may not be indicative of lax enforcement efforts, but rather could be reflective of a general lack of problems involving the death care industry in that state." (p. 7)
"A majority of states regulate crematories and require crematories to be licensed to operate in their state, but fewer require crematory operators to be licensed. Specifically, as shown in Table 2, of the 45 states responding to our survey covering crematories and crematory operators, 36 regulate crematories, and 29 regulate all crematories in the state." (p. 8)
"Since January 1, 2000, only a minority of the states that regulate crematories have taken enforcement actions.... Of the 32 states that responded to this survey question, 13 have taken a variety of enforcement actions for violations...." (p. 9)
"Most states regulate cemeteries, although not all cemeteries in those states are subject to regulation. (Footnote: For example, cemeteries that are regulated by municipalities or by religious organizations are exempt from regulation in many states.) Specifically, as shown in Table 3, of the 44 states that responded to our survey covering cemeteries and cemetery operators, 34 regulate cemeteries....About half of the states that regulate cemeteries require at least some cemetery operators to be licensed, although licensing requirements vary across states...." (p.10)
"A majority of the responding states have taken actions against cemeteries or cemeteries operators for violations of state rules or regulations since January 1, 2000. Specifically, of the 33 states responding to this issue, 23 noted they have taken enforcement actions ranging from issuing notices of noncompliance, to revoking licenses, and prosecuting violators...." (p. 11)
"Most states regulate pre-need sales of funeral plans. Specifically, Table 4 shows that all 42 of the states that responded to this issue in our survey stated that they regulate sales of pre-need funeral plans, with 34 of these states regulating all sales of pre-need funeral plans...." (p. 11)
"A majority of the states that regulate pre-need funeral plan sales have taken enforcement actions against sellers of such plans for violations of state rules or regulations since January 1, 2000. Specifically, of the 36 states responding to this issue in our survey, 25 stated that they have taken such actions...." (p. 12)
"Third party sales of funeral goods are regulated less than any other segment of the death care industry. As can be seen in Table 5, of the 45 states that responded to our survey covering third party sales of funeral goods, only 16 regulate third party sales of funeral goods, and only 10 of those states responded that they regulate all third party sales of funeral goods.... Regulation of third party sales in the 6 case study states also varies. For example, California, Hawaii, New York, and Texas do not regulate or license third party sales of funeral goods. In contrast, Florida only regulates monument dealers." (p. 13)
"Few states responded that they have taken enforcement actions against third party sellers....since January 1, 2000. Of the 16 responding states that regulate third party sales of funeral goods, 14 addressed this issue and, of these, 6 stated they have taken actions against third party sellers." (p. 14)
|
