What are lawmakers going to do to protect seniors and vulnerable adults?

It’s expected to take until the end of the year for the Minnesota Department of Health to tackle the backlog of complaints of maltreatment in the state’s assisted-living facilities.

In the meantime, lawmakers are expected to use recent recommendations from an elder abuse task force as a guide to craft new rules and regulations to help keep Minnesota’s most vulnerable citizens safe.

Gov. Mark Dayton says he’ll work with his new lieutenant governor, Republican Michelle Fischbach, and leaders in the GOP-led House and Senate to implement the task force recommendations.

They include:

• Expanding the rights of seniors, vulnerable adults and their families so they are empowered to report maltreatment and don’t fear retaliation.
• Strengthening criminal and civil penalties for maltreatment so prosecutors can more easily charge perpetrators and victims can seek compensation when their rights are violated.
• Clearer standards for licensing of assisted-living facilities and for training of staff.
• Improving enforcement of existing laws through more frequent inspections and expedited investigations of abuse complaints.

Dayton has already ordered the state Department of Human Services to work with state health officials to improve the Office of Health Facility Complaints.

He also recently appointed Jan Malcolm as health commissioner to replace Dr. Ed Ehlinger, who resigned after the department’s failure to protect vulnerable adults came to light. Malcolm’s top priority is to improve the state’s oversight of assisted-living facilities.

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What are lawmakers going to do to protect seniors and vulnerable adults?