 The Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS)
has been working with Illinois nursing home associations,
organizations representing workers and other interested parties for
more than two years on long-needed nursing home rate reform that
directly ties new money for long-term care facilities to their
performance and the quality of care for residents. HFS pays for the
care of about 45,000 Illinoisans in nursing homes across the state
and believes their care and safety is of utmost importance.
The federal push for increased accountability underscores how
urgently change is needed. As President Biden’s proposal
highlighted, public funds continue to flow to nursing homes while
too many of these facilities are providing a poor quality of care
and are understaffed, which can mean an unsafe environment for
residents.
The proposal that is currently before the Illinois General Assembly
in the form of SB 2995 would infuse more than $500 million into
Illinois Medicaid nursing home rates and create more accountability
for the industry by tying payment more accurately to resident needs
and actual staff caring for those residents on a daily basis. HFS
strongly supports this proposal, which came out of a stakeholder
engagement process that took place over a year and a half and
resulted in consensus of nearly all parties involved in fall 2021.
“President Biden’s announcement of protections for seniors and
people with disabilities living in nursing homes shows the urgency
of passing the nursing home rate reforms currently under
consideration in the Illinois General Assembly,” said Congressman
Jesús “Chuy” García (IL-04). “We need to support the care workforce
and invest in quality, safe, and culturally-appropriate long-term
care for our parents and grandparents, and especially for Latino and
Black seniors who are more likely to reside in understaffed and
substandard nursing homes. It’s the least we owe them in their
golden years, to allow them to age with dignity.”
"Many nursing homes are far too often under-resourced,
under-staffed, and mismanaged to provide each elderly and disabled
resident the quality of care they need,” said Congressman Danny K.
Davis (IL-07). “I fully support the Pritzker and Biden initiatives
to boost funding, establish transparency, improve safety, control
infections, and reduce healthcare disparities in our long-term
nursing facilities."
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 The federal plan seeks to
achieve many of the same results for those in the care of nursing
homes that HFS and other stakeholders have sought by HFS, including
ensuring facilities have adequate staffing levels, tying funding
directly to the quality of outcomes for nursing home residents,
using Medicaid to fund training and drive wage increases for
certified nursing assistants and creating more transparency around
facility ownership and reducing resident room crowding.
If the General Assembly passes the
nursing home rate reform outlined in SB 2995 that links the quality
of care and staffing levels directly to new funding this spring, it
will increase funding to Illinois’ nursing homes by as much as $1
million a day or more, giving them time and resources to prepare for
these potential new regulations at the federal level.
The federal government tracks nursing home staffing daily and makes
this information available for comparison. Of the 100 most
poorly-staffed nursing homes in the nation, 47 are in Illinois.
Nurse staffing levels have a significant effect on the care
residents receive as well as the quality of life they experience and
are the single most important measure of nursing home effort and
performance. The quality of nursing home care being provided in
Illinois is also an equity issue – data shows that Black and Brown
Medicaid customers in Illinois are more likely to live in
understaffed facilities and crowded rooms.
“Many of us have had to depend on nursing homes to support our loved
ones, but it is sometimes difficult to find a place we can entrust
with their care. Illinois has unfortunately led the nation for
negative reasons when it comes to nursing home staffing, and we have
an opportunity to invest wisely and to reverse that trend if we pass
long-needed accountability measures now,” Illinois Department of
Healthcare and Family Services Director Theresa Eagleson said. “We
are heartened by the fact that the Biden administration is
announcing some of the same reforms we are proposing in Illinois. It
is time to take strong action to ensure that nursing homes invest
state resources in the people they commit to care for, not profits.”
HFS’ recommendations for nursing home rate reform, as well as the
history of this undertaking and supporting data and analysis can be
found on the Department’s website.
[Illinois Office of Communication and
Information]
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