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Florida Assisted Living Program Jeopardized

Wed, 01/03/2001 - 1:00am — Karen Stevenson
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In a November 1st memorandum to Florida Lt. Governor Brogan's task force, Northeast Florida Area Agency on Aging Executive Director Annette Kjeer said that in Jacksonville, eight of the largest of 37 participating ALFs were withdrawing from the Assisted Living Waiver program, and the remaining ALFs in the program are too small to handle what is approximately one-third of the total client population.

The Assisted Living Waiver program helps lower-income elderly in need of daily assistance to live in an assisted living facility, a less expensive alternative to state-funded nursing home care, and for the elderly person, a much less restrictive residential setting. For a facility to participate in the waiver program it must hold extended congregate care (ECC) or limited nursing services (LNS) licenses. Insurers are telling ALFs they will no longer cover facilities holding these licenses because of the greater potential for lawsuits, so many are dropping their ECC and LNS licenses so they can continue to stay open. Unlike nursing homes, Florida law requires ALFs to carry liability insurance as a condition of licensure.

The Florida Health Care Association, an organization of facility operators, warned that the insurance crisis jeopardizes the assisted living program. They said that some elderly clients may have no other option than state-funded nursing home care, the very thing the Assisted Living Waiver program was intended to prevent. They also report that Florida long term care facilities are three times more likely to be sued than a non-Florida facility because of the unique Florida law that provides incentives to sue nursing homes and assisted living facilities. As a consequence, Florida has the highest liability insurance rates in the nation. A recent Department of Insurance report confirms liability insurers fleeing Florida.

Lt. Governor Frank Brogan heads up a task force created to investigate the availability and affordability of long-term care, including the liability insurance crisis faced by long term care providers in the state of Florida.

In a November 1st memorandum to Florida Lt. Governor Brogan's task force, Northeast Florida Area Agency on Aging Executive Director Annette Kjeer said that in Jacksonville, eight of the largest of 37 participating ALFs were withdrawing from the Assisted Living Waiver program, and the remaining ALFs in the program are too small to handle what is approximately one-third of the total client population.

The Assisted Living Waiver program helps lower-income elderly in need of daily assistance to live in an assisted living facility, a less expensive alternative to state-funded nursing home care, and for the elderly person, a much less restrictive residential setting. For a facility to participate in the waiver program it must hold extended congregate care (ECC) or limited nursing services (LNS) licenses. Insurers are telling ALFs they will no longer cover facilities holding these licenses because of the greater potential for lawsuits, so many are dropping their ECC and LNS licenses so they can continue to stay open. Unlike nursing homes, Florida law requires ALFs to carry liability insurance as a condition of licensure.

The Florida Health Care Association, an organization of facility operators, warned that the insurance crisis jeopardizes the assisted living program. They said that some elderly clients may have no other option than state-funded nursing home care, the very thing the Assisted Living Waiver program was intended to prevent. They also report that Florida long term care facilities are three times more likely to be sued than a non-Florida facility because of the unique Florida law that provides incentives to sue nursing homes and assisted living facilities. As a consequence, Florida has the highest liability insurance rates in the nation. A recent Department of Insurance report confirms liability insurers fleeing Florida.

Lt. Governor Frank Brogan heads up a task force created to investigate the availability and affordability of long-term care, including the liability insurance crisis faced by long term care providers in the state of Florida.