Late yesterday afternoon, the Senate adopted its version of the Long Term Care Reform Bill, SB2889, An Act Relative to Long Term Care and Assisted Living and in doing so rejected the three MSCA-supported amendments. Thank you to members who sent emails of support – of our 7,000 advocates, 300 emails of support were sent to Senators over the past few days. While the Senate’s legislation mirrors the earlier House of Representative’s version in many ways, including rate provisions, best practice training, licensure and suitability reform and increased fines, it does not include vital workforce initiatives including the establishment of medication aides in nursing facilities and the House’s Workforce Investment Fund. Instead, the Senate’s proposal unlike the House, added new language to permanently expand skilled nursing services in assisted living residences. To become law, the differences between the separate House and Senate versions of the LTC reform bills must be reconciled by a Conference Committee and enacted by the full Legislature by the end of the legislature’s formal session on July 31st. We will keep members posted on developments.
Tara Gregorio, Mass Senior Care President issued the following statement on the Senate bill:
“Yesterday the Senate approved legislation that provides the Department of Public Health with additional transparency, accountability and enforcement tools to further regulate nursing facility care in the Commonwealth. While we support many of these provisions and have been advocating for these types of reforms, we are concerned that the Commonwealth continues to severely underfund nursing facility care by 47 dollars per resident per day, totaling more than $300 million annually, according to the federal government. 70% of the state’s more than 33,000 nursing facility residents have their care paid for by the Commonwealth and therefore a nursing facility’s ability to provide quality resident care, invest in our dedicated workforce and comply with thousands of government regulations is dependent on state funding. We urge the Legislature and Healey/Driscoll Administration to support necessary reforms and to also prioritize vital funding for nursing facility residents and their caregivers in the upcoming state budget.”