One of those priorities continues to be around adult care facility enforcement. Over the years, the questions of placement of individuals with mental health issues in adult homes has been a major public policy issue. Conditions of some adult homes have been questionable for years. Despite questionable conditions, many of these homes have never been fined and frankly even if they do have violations, the fines for the most part are minor and have little impact.
This Gottfried/Rivera bill would increase fines (first time in 45 years) as well as make it easier for residents and families to evaluate an adult home’s inspection history.
The Forrest/Rivera bill will require adult care facilities to include resident race and ethnicity in the data they submit to the Department of Health.
We urge support for both of these bills.
A196C (Gottfried) / S1576C (Rivera) Almost all facilities will not be affected by the enforcement provisions of this bill. But it will improve conditions thousands of residents face in the state’s worst facilities.
- The bill maintains the rectification rule, allowing facilities to avoid fines for almost all violations, if they correct it.
- The bill adds 3 categories to the existing harm & endangerment exception to rectification: violations that cause a resident’s physical injury, financial abuse, and facility management’s intentional violation of resident rights.
- The bill adjusts the maximum fine from $1,000 per day per violation to $2,000 per day per violation. First increase since 1977 (45 years!) Fines are rare (because of rectification), and all but most serious are set at $5-100 per day. These fines are still much lower than the maximum for nursing homes ($10,000 per violation per day).
- The bill makes it easier for residents and families to evaluate facilities’ quality and inspection history by making reports more accessible.
- A.9290 (Forrest) / S.8813 (Rivera)* would require ACFs to include resident race/ethnicity in the data they submit to DOH. (ACFs currently report on age and sex, but not race/ethnicity). It has passed the Assembly. We are hoping it will pass in the Senate!
