The controversial practice of allowing Massachusetts assisted living nurses to provide skilled nursing care might become permanent if a proposed bill becomes law.
The Massachusetts Legislature is considering S. 2527, an act that would make the availability of a handful of basic health services permanent in assisted living. Those basic services include injections, the application or replacement of non-sterile dressings, oxygen management, sample collection and home diagnostic testing, and the application of ointment or drops.
A COVID-19 executive order allowing assisted living residents to receive those services where they live is set to expire March 31. A state emergency order during the pandemic put a bill introduced in 2017 by Mass-ALA into a pilot program, allowing assisted living nurses to deliver a handful of additional health services.
Massachusetts state law historically prohibited nurses in assisted living communities from providing skilled care to residents, requiring family members to provide that care or to pay an outside provider.
“Additional basic health services have given residents improved unity of life while being allowed these past four years,” Mass-ALA President and CEO Brian Doherty said in a statement following Mass-ALA’s recent annual advocacy day. “It’s time to amend and advance the bill to permanently allow them so more residents get access to care.”
Other industry advocates, however, were not as supportive of the move, including the Massachusetts Senior Care Association, which previously called the legislation “unnecessary, redundant and inconsistent” with the intent of Massachusetts law, which promotes assisted living as a social housing model.
Assisted living waiver
In addition to basic health services, S. 2527 would amend the state’s Frail Elder Waiver to permit eligible older adults to choose to reside in certified assisted living residences.
Under the current waiver program, Income-eligible older adults in the home- and community-based waiver program can only choose between homecare and skilled nursing care.
Doherty said extending the Frail Elder Waiver to assisted living would create a more cost-effective approach to provide independence and quality of life to more older adults. It would also allow Massachusetts to join more than 40 other states that already have such a policy in place.
Source: McKnights Seniorliving