Racial and Health Disparities, Unsafe Care of Nursing Home Residents to Continue Without Immediate Reforms

SPRINGFIELD, Ill., Feb. 23, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Inequities in care in nursing homes will continue to jeopardize the lives of Ilinois residents without immediate reforms to cease "ward-like" rooms where more than three people are housed, woefully understaffed facilities, and an aged Medicaid rate structure prone to over-code resident services.

"Nursing home residents and staff have experienced devastating conditions during the Covid-19 pandemic, and an unacceptable number have lost their lives to the disease," said Lori Hendren, Associate State Director for AARP Illinois. "Illinois lawmakers must take action now to protect nursing home residents and staff by approving reforms to a rate system that is clearly broken."

Hendren was joined by Rep. Anna Moeller (D-43), Rep. Denyse Stoneback(D-16), Matt Hartman, Executive Director of the Illinois Health Care Association, and Angela Schnepf, LeadingAge Illinois President and CEO in a virtual press conference Wednesday urging lawmakers to approve the Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) Compromise Nursing Home Rate Reform bills.  Rep. Moeller is the sponsor of the measure in the House, HB 4678, and Senator Gillespie is the sponsor of the Senate version, SB 2995.

"High-Medicaid, for-profit nursing home facilities compromise 95% of all understaffed facilities in our state, according to the HFS report," said Rep. Moeller.  "Nursing rate reform is a direct pathway to rebuild and reinvest in our nursing home frontline state which translates into safer, higher quality and equitable care for our state's most vulnerable."

"The current nursing home Medicaid rate system permits the bad actors in the industry to continue to profit as residents suffer," said Rep. Stoneback.  "Sub-par and racially divided care is unjust.  Our most vulnerable population deserves us all to be their unwavering champions and advocates."

The HFS Compromise Nursing Home Rate Reform Bill:

• Prioritizes accountability, quality of care for residents, and workforce development in long-term care facilities. 
• Disrupts racial inequities and health disparities of nursing home residents enrolled in Medicaid. 
• Ends the practice of overcrowding nursing home rooms with 3 or more residents. 
• Requires greater transparency of nursing home ownership and revenue. 
• Directly ties funding/rates/incentives to demonstrable and sustained nursing home performance. 

The need for reforms is bolstered by recent research from AARP/PPI Research, which found that voters 50+ in Illinois have many concerns about the nursing homes in their state, including the cost of care, inadequate staffing, exposure to infections, and being isolated and alone.

Voters in Illinois overwhelmingly support reforms to nursing homes, such as the elimination of ward-like rooms, increasing the frequency of safety inspections and more funding to direct care workers, according to the AARP IL Voter Survey on Family Caregiver and Long-Term Care.

Executive Director of the Illinois Health Care Association Matt Hartman said: "The skilled nursing profession in Illinois has been in peril for many years. Scrupulous providers who operate with resident outcomes, quality and safety as their driving mission have struggled to stay afloat in the face of an underfunded and inequitable system. Others have manipulated that same system, driving profits through upcoding residents' care needs in centers where there isn't sufficient staff to meet the needs of those residents."

Hartman continued, "The COVID pandemic has only exacerbated these problems, leading to facility closures and concerns about sufficient access to quality care in rural and underserved communities. The language at hand emphasizes staffing and quality resident outcomes as a cornerstone of how centers should be funded, while providing a solid footing for the future of the profession as a whole."

"Our members believe in serving seniors with dignity and compassion and that we need a Medicaid reimbursement system in place that encourages all organizations to do the same.  We believe the Medicaid Rate Reform proposal, which was agreed to by all stakeholders, does just that," said Angela Schnepf, LeadingAge Illinois President and CEO. 

"This reimbursement model rewards staffing and outcomes while helping restrict over-coding of acuity.  By doing this, HFS is setting up a system where organizations are incentivized to do the right thing on the front end instead of leaving it up to IDPH to seek out the poor performers and fine.  We greatly appreciate the diligent work of Senator Gillespie and Representative Moeller in developing legislation that improves the lives of seniors in the state of Illinois."

To see a copy of the report, visit bit.ly/AARPIL2021_Survey

SOURCE AARP Illinois