Delaware’s Long Term and Memory Care task force issued more than a dozen recommendations this for improving staffing, oversight and transparency at long-term care facilities after a year-long review -- the first such review of Delaware's long-term care industry in two decades.
Lawmakers launched the task force amid reports of dire staffing shortages, growing reliance on temporary workers and poor communication with families within Delaware’s long-term care industry – a topic of increasing concern with the state’s senior population projected to grow by more than 150 percent by 2050.
The group’s final report includes 18 recommendations ranging from increasing the reimbursement rate for long-term care for the first time since 2008 to requiring providers to be transparent and honest in their promotional materials – a response, says task force chair Rep. Kendra Johnson, to feedback from the families of seniors in facilities not equipped to offer the memory care services they promised.
“People were dishonest in their advertising," she said. "You think they’re going to receive this type of service, and it is not the level of service you want and need for your love one who has been diagnosed with Alzheimers.”
Johnson says she expects the General Assembly to consider legislation establishing that truth-in-advertising requirement within the next year.
The task force also recommends increasing resources available to the multiple entities responsible for overseeing and regulating the long-term care industry, including the Office of Health Care Quality and the long-term care ombudsman. But state Sen. Spiros Mantzavinos, who co-chaired the task force, says those oversight agencies – including the Division of Health Care Quality – are limited by their own staffing challenges.
“When we talk about staffing in the industry, there have certainly been conversations about whether there’s adequate staffing in oversight," he said. "And it’s something we’ll look at more, but given the resources the state is working with, they’re doing the best they can.”
The task force also recommended the creation of committees focused on services for aging Delawareans within both chambers of the General Assembly.
On Friday, Democratic lawmakers introduced five bills tied to the recommendations, including a bill that would increase accountability for facilities that misrepresent their memory care offerings.
Delaware’s Long Term and Memory Care task force issued more than a dozen recommendations this for improving staffing, oversight and transparency at long-term care facilities after a year-long review -- the first such review of Delaware's long-term care industry in two decades.
Lawmakers launched the task force amid reports of dire staffing shortages, growing reliance on temporary workers and poor communication with families within Delaware’s long-term care industry – a topic of increasing concern with the state’s senior population projected to grow by more than 150 percent by 2050.
The group’s final report includes 18 recommendations ranging from increasing the reimbursement rate for long-term care for the first time since 2008 to requiring providers to be transparent and honest in their promotional materials – a response, says task force chair Rep. Kendra Johnson, to feedback from the families of seniors in facilities not equipped to offer the memory care services they promised.
“People were dishonest in their advertising," she said. "You think they’re going to receive this type of service, and it is not the level of service you want and need for your love one who has been diagnosed with Alzheimers.”
Johnson says she expects the General Assembly to consider legislation establishing that truth-in-advertising requirement within the next year.
The task force also recommends increasing resources available to the multiple entities responsible for overseeing and regulating the long-term care industry, including the Office of Health Care Quality and the long-term care ombudsman. But state Sen. Spiros Mantavinos, who co-chaired the task force, says those oversight agencies – including the Division of Health Care Quality – are limited by their own staffing challenges.
“When we talk about staffing in the industry, there have certainly been conversations about whether there’s adequate staffing in oversight," he said. "And it’s something we’ll look at more, but given the resources the state is working with, they’re doing the best they can.”
The task force also recommended the creation of committees focused on services for aging Delawareans within both chambers of the General Assembly.
On Friday, Democratic lawmakers introduced five bills tied to the recommendations, including a bill that would increase accountability for facilities that misrepresent their memory care offerings.
