New Legislation Introduced to Improve Illinois Nursing Homes
It was recently reported that officials are advancing with legislation to improve safety in Illinois nursing homes. The proposed legislation aims to improve inspections of nursing homes, increase penalties and enforcement, and require homes to make details of their financial and safety records more public.
The amendments first are reviewed before the City Council Health Committee and then reviewed by the full council. Governor Quinn’s office also plans to put recommendations by the Nursing Home Safety Task force into play. This task force recommends stricter background checks for new residents, an increase in nursing staff to resident ratios, higher penalties on nursing homes with many safety problems, and moving thousands of mentally ill patients into smaller settings where they can receive better treatment.
In addition, further legislation regarding violence in nursing homes and treatment of mentally ill patients is in progress. The Health Care Council of Illinois is working on the legislation, which will be sponsored by Republican Lou Lang, a Skokie democrat.