REPORT TITLE:
Long-Term Residential Care


DESCRIPTION:
Establishes an information and referral process.  Requires the
Joint Legislative Committee on Long-term Care Subcommittee on
Residential Care to report on a study for adult residential care
facilities.  (CD1)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        2490
THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           S.D. 2
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                H.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII                                            C.D. 1
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO LONG-TERM RESIDENTIAL CARE.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that Hawaii's citizens are
 
 2 faced with an overwhelming financial burden of caring for their
 
 3 elderly and disabled residents whose needs will continue to grow
 
 4 as the population ages.  The cost of nursing home care is
 
 5 currently the highest of all types of long-term care and
 
 6 continues to escalate.  Consequently, long-term residential care
 
 7 has become a realistic and cost-effective alternative.
 
 8      The legislature further finds that there is no one, simple,
 
 9 uniform way for a person who needs long-term care to easily and
 
10 quickly access the appropriate care.  An information and referral
 
11 system would provide a simple and uniform, yet sophisticated and
 
12 comprehensive way to allow people easy access into the long-term
 
13 residential care system that includes a screening process and
 
14 assessment tool.
 
15      Act 339, Session Laws of Hawaii 1997, created a two-year
 
16 joint legislative committee on long-term care financing.
 
17 Subsequently, House Concurrent Resolution No. 225, H.D. 1,
 
18 S.D. 1, 1998, required the joint committee to create a
 
19 subcommittee to study long-term residential care facilities.
 

 
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 1      The recommendations of the subcommittee included, among
 
 2 other things:
 
 3      (1)  Improving the regulatory environment to:
 
 4           (A)  Reduce fragmentation in the adult long-term
 
 5                residential care industry by consolidating and
 
 6                simplifying organizational categories of
 
 7                facilities;
 
 8           (B)  Increase uniformity of regulation across facility
 
 9                types; and
 
10           (C)  Promote parity of provider reimbursement for
 
11                similar services provided regardless of facility
 
12                type;
 
13      (2)  The implementation of an information and referral
 
14           process for all adult long-term residential care
 
15           facilities in the State; and
 
16      (3)  Maintenance of a uniform assessment tool that includes
 
17           the information obtained from the initial information
 
18           and referral screening process.
 
19      Pursuant to Act 339, S.B. No. 856, 1999, was introduced.
 
20 Your Committee believes that the provisions in S.B. No. 856,
 
21 relating to organizing the various residential care homes and
 
22 facilities into two categories of adult residential care
 
23 facilities, has merit and should be pursued by the department of
 

 
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 1 health.
 
 2      The purpose of this Act is to provide for an efficient,
 
 3 streamlined, and accessible long-term care system.
 
 4      SECTION 2.  Chapter 349, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended
 
 5 by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to
 
 6 read as follows:
 
 7      "�349-    Long-term care information and referral.  Subject
 
 8 to legislative appropriations, the executive office on aging
 
 9 shall establish an information and referral process that shall
 
10 serve all potential clients of licensed care homes, namely, the
 
11 elderly, the non-elderly under age sixty, and disabled persons of
 
12 all ages.  The information and referral process shall include a
 
13 uniform initial information and referral screening using a tool
 
14 to be developed by the executive office on aging."
 
15      SECTION 3.  A study on reorganizing all adult residential
 
16 care homes and facilities into a new "adult residential care
 
17 facilities" category, for regulatory purposes, as contained in
 
18 S.B. No. 856, H.D. 2, 1999 Regular Session, shall be conducted by
 
19 the subcommittee on residential care of the joint legislative
 
20 committee on long-term care, re-constituted as it was originally
 
21 created under House Concurrent Resolution No. 225, 1998.  The
 
22 study shall either:
 
23      (1)  Recommend enactment of a new adult residential care
 

 
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 1           facilities model with two facility categories and seven
 
 2           designated entities; or
 
 3      (2)  Recommend an alternative model with proposed
 
 4           legislation to reduce the fragmentation, increase cost-
 
 5           effectiveness, and improve operational effectiveness of
 
 6           residential care services.
 
 7      For purposes of the study, the joint legislative committee
 
 8 on long-term care, subcommittee on residential care, is
 
 9 encouraged to solicit the input of organizations concerned with
 
10 long-term care and providers of long-term care, including
 
11 facilities, homes, and hospitals.
 
12      The joint legislative committee on long-term care,
 
13 subcommittee on residential care, shall report on its findings
 
14 and recommendations to the legislature no later than twenty days
 
15 prior to the convening of the regular session of 2001.
 
16      SECTION 4.  New statutory material is underscored.
 
17      SECTION 5.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.