Illinois Nursing Home Reforms Move Closer to Becoming Law
Recently, the Chicago Tribune reported that Illinois lawmakers have negotiated a historic bill that hopes to reform its troubled nursing homes. The reform effort was initiated by a series of Chicago Tribune investigations where chronic violence was exposed in a number of nursing home facilities. The bill contains a number of measures aimed to prevent such violence.
The bill will tighten existing criminal background checks and psychological screenings of incoming nursing home residents, and place dangerous patients into separate secure therapeutic wards. In addition, nursing homes would be required to significantly increase staffing levels and to meet stricter safety and treatment standards. Nursing homes currently agreed to increase nursing staff levels in the next four years to 3.8 hours of daily nursing care for each resident (up from the current minimum of 2.5 hours) although 4.1 hours per resident was recommended. Another key provision concerns the admittance of residents suffering from serious mental illnesses. Under this new law, nursing homes will be required to obtain a certification that they can meet the standards to properly care for these residents. These standards include requiring homes to have enough staff on a 24-hour basis, training of staff on “managing aggression and crisis prevention”, and substance abuse programs.
Lawmakers say implementing the many provisions in the 159-page bill will be difficult, but that the changes are desperately needed and it is in everyone’s best interest that the bill is passed. Late Thursday night, the bill hurdled its first obstacle by passing the House with a vote of 118-0. The bill now goes to Governor Quinn’s desk.