ElderWeb

The Alabama Legislature recently approved SB418 that changed the name of the Alabama Commission on Aging to the Alabama Department of Senior Services. This was done with the support of the Governor's office, Area Agencies on Aging and legislators. With this new name, the state's older citizens and other interested persons can more easily identify them as the state's focal point for aging services.

Act No. 2000-795, HB170 was signed by the Governor and became effective August 1, 2000. The companion bill was S-187 (Butler). This bill amends the Alabama Medicare Supplement Policy Minimum Standards Act and adopts the Alabama Long-Term Care Insurance Policy Minimum Standards Act, so as to make Alabama law substantially similar to the uniform standards developed by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and required by the Federal Health Care Financing Authority.

The Alabama Public Health Department held an unusual public forum with leaders of the Alabama long-term care industry, to discuss regulation of assisted living in the state. The Health Department argues it has neither the money nor the authority to regulate the assisted-living industry, nor the patience to listen to the nursing home industry say that it's unfair to regulate nursing homes while not regulating assisted living. After efforts to write new laws failed in the last days of this year's legislative session, the Health Department invited dozens of leaders and thinkers to this forum. They say that it was not a legal hearing, just a public negotiation.

After that forum, the state released its proposed new assisted living regulations. Officials estimate that as many as half of the patients in standard assisted-living homes wouldn't be eligible to remain there under the new rules. At least 20 new state inspectors would be hired to inspect hundreds of assisted living homes statewide. The estimated $750,000 cost of those inspections would be paid from an emergency appropriation approved by Siegelman.

The stumbling block centers on whether dementia-care assisted-living homes would be subject to broader state control. The nursing home industry wants such facilities under Certificate of Need (CON) restrictions because they often compete for the same patients. Assisted-living leaders agree some control of growth is needed, but contend the CON is too politicized and doesn't guarantee a higher quality of care.