A proposed bill requiring assisted living communities to install video surveillance equipment is raising affordability and privacy concerns among Maryland’s senior living experts.
SB 465 / HB 576 would require assisted living programs to install, operate and maintain video surveillance equipment in common areas to detect abuse, neglect and exploitation of residents. Common areas are defined as dining halls, meeting and activity and living rooms, hallways and entrances.
Communities also would be required to share certain recordings with law enforcement and state investigative agencies. If passed, the requirements of the bill would go into effect Oct. 1.
The legislation, which also would apply to nursing homes, comes on heels of Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown announcing his legislative priorities for the 2025 state general assembly session. Along with video recording equipment installation in the state’s long-term care facilities, he also said he will pursue higher standards for caregivers — whether facility staff or family members — in their financial interactions with long-term care residents.
LeadingAge Maryland said that it advocates for quality support and services but has “serious concerns” about the financial and administrative burden the requirements will place on assisted living communities and nursing homes.
“Costs for installation of cameras, storage of footage and ongoing maintenance are substantial,” LeadingAge Maryland President and CEO Allison Roenigk Ciborowski told McKnight’s Senior Living, adding that one member estimated $200,000 in costs in the first year, just to install the required cameras, along with $50,000 in storage and maintenance costs for a medium-sized community. “Given that the state Medicaid reimbursement increase this year is only slotted to be 1%, how will these substantial costs be covered?”
Ciborowski said that organizations with multiple levels of care in one building, such as continuing care retirement / life plan communities, would face additional challenges because entrances and common areas may serve different populations in the same building. The senior living industry will continue engaging with Brown’s office on the matter, she said.
A growing trend
Laws allowing assisted living residents and their families to install cameras in their rooms have become more common over the past decade, although the practice remains more widespread in nursing homes. In 2016, Utah became the first state in more than a decade, and only the second state overall, to pass such a law covering assisted living communities. Texas became the first state with a camera law applying to assisted living in 2003 when it amended a 2001 law covering nursing homes to also apply to assisted living.
By 2021, at least five more states — Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota — had laws on the books mandating that assisted living communities accommodate resident requests to install electronic monitoring equipment in their rooms. New Jersey also has a “Safe Care Cam” program that loans micro-surveillance equipment to healthcare consumers, including families of assisted living and nursing homes residents.
A law allowing assisted living residents to install their own electronic monitoring devices went into effect in Rhode Island on Jan. 30.
Source: McKnights Seniorliving