HARTFORD — The state Senate passed a bill this week to require nursing homes to increase transparency regarding the types of caregivers they have on duty each day.
The
bill, which goes next to the House, would give the state Department of
Public Health authority to discipline any nursing home that fails to
comply.
Last year, the Centers
for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced steps to strengthen
oversight of nursing homes due to observed drops in staffing levels on
weekends. The organization also noticed that there were days when a
registered nurse wasn’t on site at certain homes.
The bill passed by the Senate this week
would require nursing homes to calculate and post, at the beginning of
each shift, the number of advanced practice registered nurses,
registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, and nurse’s aides
responsible for providing direct care to residents during the shift.
The
information would have to be “in a legible format and in a conspicuous
place readily accessible to and clearly visible by residents, employees,
and visitors, including those in a wheelchair.”
The
posted information would also have to include a telephone number or
website that any resident, employee, or visitor could use to report a
suspected violation of staffing requirements.
The
bill would require nursing homes to make the information available for
public review upon request and retain the information for at least 18
months after it is posted.
Currently,
the Public Health Department requires that chronic and convalescent
nursing homes provide a minimum of 1.9 hours of direct nursing staff per
resident per day. A bill backed by the legislature’s Aging Committee
seeks to raise the minimum to three hours. If a nursing home is found
non-compliant, the bill calls for the Public Health Department to take
disciplinary action or issue a citation against the home, which would
have to be prominently displayed on-site. By law, the department could
take such disciplinary actions as revoking a home’s license, issuing a
letter of reprimand or a compliance order, imposing a corrective action
plan, or placing the home on probation.
The bill adds protections for
whistleblowers. Current law prevents nursing homes from discriminating
or retaliating against a resident; a resident’s relative, guardian, or
conservator; or an employee for filing a complaint or testifying in an
administrative proceeding against the home.
Current law makes any nursing home found to have engaged in such retaliation liable for damages.
The
bill would add a requirement that the home reinstate any employee fired
on grounds found to be retaliatory. In the case of a resident, if the
retaliatory action resulted in any change in the resident’s living
arrangement, the home would have to restore the prior living
arrangement.
Sen. M. Saud
Anwar, D-South Windsor, vice-chairman of the legislature’s Public Health
Committee, and a strong proponent of the bill, said he was excited to
see the bill progress to the House.
“Our
nursing home residents aren’t receiving the care they deserve,” he
said. “Our nursing home caretakers do not have the time or resources to
properly administer that care. This needs to stop.”
Full Article & Source:
Nursing home staffing transparency bill passes state Senate
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