Delaware’s long-term care facilities, including nursing homes, assisted living homes and memory care centers are receiving an overhaul in their regulatory processes.
At the Division of Health Care Quality’s February budget hearing, the department reported a backlog of long-term care facility inspections, complaints of care and new facility applications.
State Sen. Spiros Mantzavinos (D-Elsmere) and State Rep. Kendra Johnson (D-Bear) were quick to introduce several pieces of legislation to help address these long-standing issues, including requiring facilities to be inspected at least every 15 months.
Johnson points out current language in Delaware Code only requires facilities to be inspected "regularly."
“‘Regularly’ is subject to interpretation, right? ‘Regularly’ could mean so many things, so we wanted the bill to have a little bit more meat as it relates to a timeline," she said.
The bill will officially go into effect in October, while bills bolstering accreditation and staffing requirements and increasing civil penalties for long-term care facility violations are now enforceable.
For violations that are determined to pose a serious threat to the health and safety of residents, the minimum penalty increased from $1,000 per violation to $2,000, and the maximum penalty increased from $10,000 to $20,000 per violation.
For violations that do not constitute a serious threat to the health and safety of a resident, the maximum penalty increased from $5,000 to $10,000 per violation.
Johnson adds one bill in particular defines types of memory and dementia care service facilities and ensures centers that administer specialized care have the necessary providers.
“It requires assisted living facilities that offer dementia care services to have enough staff to meet the needs of each resident. It ensures that those folks are indeed receiving dementia care training — It's very different than working with a resident who lives there and does not have dementia."
Johnson notes she forgot to send one bill to Carney that passed the legislature this session — a bill to increase the oversight of temporary nursing and staffing agencies by requiring said agencies to register with the Division of Health Care Quality, validate the qualifications of all provided staff and maintain records of all provided staff’s credentials, job requirements, and required immunizations. She expects him to sign it shortly.
"While these five pieces— they're a big deal, but at the same time, it is just the beginning because we are committed to ensuring that our aging population are cared for appropriately — beyond appropriately — and that they are safe, and they are honored and revered in our community as they ought to be."
Johnson says she plans to help revive a bill that stalled this year that would create a loan-to-grant incentive program to encourage Delawareans to pursue careers in nursing at long-term care facilities.
