Race to Turnaround
The statehouse switched to full chaos mode this week as Legislative committees raced to get bills heard, amended, debated and passed before their meeting deadline next Tuesday ahead of Turnaround. Turnaround is the fun name for the halfway point of the session when the House and Senate have to finish and send over their bills to the opposite chamber so they can “turn around” and work on each other’s legislation. (If you need a refresher on how a bill becomes a law, never skip the classics)
Most legislative committees have until next Tuesday to push out the bills they introduced at the beginning of session, and then both the House and Senate will spend the rest of the week in their chambers debating and passing bills before Turnaround hits on Friday.
House and Senate Budget Subcommittees Hear KDADS Funding Requests
LeadingAge Kansas provided testimony this week to the Senate Ways and Means Human Services Sub-Committee and the House Social Services Budget Committee outlining our funding requests for long term care programs for state fiscal year 2024 (which starts July 1, 2023). Our asks to the committee:
- $29 M in State General Funds to fully fund nursing facility rate rebase with inflation factor through December 31, 2023
- $24.6 M in State General Funds to fund a daily Medicaid payment add-on to distribute per Medicaid resident based on the percentage of Medicaid residents as reported on a facility’s annual cost report.
- 10% increase HCBS-FE rates in assisted living facilities
- 5% increase PACE reimbursement rates
Assisted Living Discharge Appeal Bill Gets Hearing on Senate Side
The Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee held a hearing on SB 191 which would establish an appeals process for assisted living involuntary discharges. The House version of this legislation received a hearing last week in the House Judiciary Committee. LeadingAge Kansas continued to carry our message that there may need to be more work done on assisted living discharge issues, but this legislation cannot be the solution. Instead of putting forth targeted solutions to go after bad actors, this overbroad and extreme legislation endangers all involved and upends an entire sector made up of good providers doing the right thing for residents and the larger community.
Health Care Facility Violence Bill Gets Committee Approval
The House Judiciary Committee passed out an amended version of HB 2023 which creates the crimes of Interference with the Conduct of a Health Care Facility, Aggravated Interference with the Conduct of a Health Care Facility, and amends the existing crime of Battery Against a Health Care Provider. Nursing facilities and assisted living facilities and their staff fall under the new definition of “health care facility” and “health care provider.”
The crime of interference with the conduct of a health care facility, is defined as:
- Conduct at or in a health care facility so as to knowingly deny an employee of the health care facility to enter, to use the facilities of, or to leave any such health care facility;
- Knowingly impeding an employee of a health care facility from the performance of such employee’s duties or activities through the use of restraint, abduction, coercion, or intimidation, or by force and violence or threat thereof; or
- Knowingly refusing to leave a health care facility upon being requested to leave by the employee charged with maintaining order in such health care facility, if such person is committing, threatens to commit, or incites others to commit any act that did, or would if completed, disrupt, impair, interfere with, or obstruct the mission, processes, procedures, or functions of the health care facility.
The crime of aggravated interference with the conduct of a health care facility is defined as any of the above conduct when in possession of any weapon included in the crimes of criminal use of weapons or criminal carrying of a weapon. HB 2203 moves to the full House for consideration next week.
House Committee Passes an Amended No Patient Left Alone Act
This week the House Health and Human Services Committee approved HB 2264, otherwise known as the “No Patient Left Alone” act with amendments requested in LeadingAge Kansas testimony. This bill would generally prevent hospitals and adult care homes from limiting visitation by people closest to patient or resident. The meat of the bill lines up with current resident rights requirements in adult care homes, however we brought up serious concerns with the committee about needing to follow CMS regulations as well as further liability protection from COVID-19 lawsuits. We are happy to report that the Committee put in our suggested amendments to the bill that would allow facilities to do what is needed to remain in federal compliance, receive immunity liability for following the new visitation law, and emphasizes that the patient always has the right to refuse visitation. HB 2264 moves to the full House for consideration next week.
Disability License Plates for Adult Care Home Vehicles
After numerous reports from providers who were denied handicap license plates when renewing registrations on vehicles, HB 2267 was approved in the House Transportation Committee this week to HB 2267 clarifies that adult care homes frequently provide transportation to people with health conditions and disabilities, and as a matter of common sense and kindness to the people we serve, must be able to obtain handicap license plates for transportation vehicles. We are happy to report that Committee members approved our request to amend the bill to include PACE programs. HB 2267 moves to the full House for consideration next week.
Health Care Apprenticeship Tax Credit Approved by House Commerce Committee
On Thursday afternoon the House Commerce, Labor and Economic Development Committee amended HB 2292 to include special tax credit funding to support health care provider apprenticeship programs. The amended version of the bill will be available to view next week as Office of Revisor staff catch up on posting new bill drafts.
Coming Up Next Week:
Monday:
- House Health and Human Services on HB 2408 clarifying that adult care homes are not required to have salons licensed by the Board of Cosmetology or Barbering
- KDADS budget recommendations by the House Social Services Budget Committee
Tuesday: KDADS budget recommendations by the Senate Ways and Means Human Services Subcommittee
Wednesday -Friday: No committees; Legislators on floor all day
Bill Tracker
- SB 6 Restricting the authority of the secretary of health and environment and local health officers to prevent the introduction and spread of infectious or contagious diseases.
- SB 62 Enacting the protect vulnerable adults from financial exploitation act.
- SB 191 Involuntary discharge appeals in assisted living; allowing residents to stay in facility while appeal is pending.
- HB 2023 Creating the crime of interference with the conduct of a health care facility
- HB 2049 Changing the length of the nurse aide course required for unlicensed employees in adult care homes to 75 hours
- HB 2246 Involuntary discharge appeals in assisted living; allowing residents to stay in facility while appeal is pending
- HB 2264 Enacting the patient right to visitation act to require patient care facilities to adopt visitation rules to allow certain relatives and other persons, including clergy, to visit terminally ill patients and other patients making major medical decisions
- HB 2265 Regulation of temporary health care staffing agencies
- HB 2267 Allowing adult care homes to apply for disability special license plates
- HB 2292 Establishing tax credit to support health care apprenticeship programs
- HB 2345 Enacting the supported decision-making agreements act for adult who want decision-making assistance
- HB 2358 Permitting mid-level practitioners to provide medical certification to attest to an individual’s cause of death to file a death certificate
- HB 2408 Exempting certain services provided in an adult care home from board of cosmetology and barbering oversight
