Long-Term Care - Illinois General Assembly

common complaint investigation procedures, common definitions of types of complaints,
standardized mandated reporter guidelines and standard complaint investigation protocols
be established. Illinois Health Care Association
• Development of a single complaint intake unit for reporting all forms of elder abuse, neglect,
and exploitation regardless of where the senior resides or the relationship of the perpetrator
to the victim would reduce the state’s costs and eliminate confusion on the part of mandated
reporters, residents of facilities, and the pubic at large. It will also permit the state to embark
on a major media campaign to put the single complaint telephone number before the public.
Implementation of this recommendation will require common definitions, reporting
requirements and procedures, and a common response mechanism. AARP
• All providers – facility-based and non-facility-based – should be required to have quality
assurance programs in place, and to regularly file quality assurance reports with the state.
Illinois Health Care Association
CAREGIVERS
• To improve nursing home care in the future, state government must be partners with the
nursing home profession to encourage more, better-paid and better-trained staff. Illinois
Council on Long Term Care (ICLTC)
• The state must begin paying a living wage and providing a health benefit to professional
caregivers. State payments for homecare workers and homecare agencies allow for a
median wage of only $6.60 per hour – a wage that assures such workers will live in poverty,
regardless of how effectively they work. The work must pay better to build and retain a more
professional workforce. The state should abandon the practice of creating poverty-level
jobs to provide an essential service to some of the state’s most vulnerable populations. The
numerous problems affecting the provision of homecare by the state, and denying
availability to all who require it, must be addressed systematically. Immediately raise the
wages of all Illinois homecare workers to a living wage – $9.05/hour. Provide health care
coverage to all homecare workers employed at least 20 hours/week. Service Employees
International Union-Local 880 (SEIU)
• A law enacted two years ago required the Illinois Department of Public Health to develop a
nurse assistant career ladder program. This program would provide opportunities for nurse
aides to receive advanced training, provide better resident care, and enable them to reach
higher levels in their professions with increased pay and status. In addition, their training
can be used as a bridge towards helping them become nurses. Working with the
universities, unions and providers, the state can establish the standards for advanced
training. Once standards are agreed upon, the schools, unions and providers can work
together to implement the career training that will open up doors of opportunity. Illinois Council
on Long Term Care (ICLTC)
• Allow long-term care employers to purchase health insurance for their employees through
the state employee insurance program. Economies of scale make such insurance less
costly than purchasing small group policies and more affordable for financially strapped
entities. Illinois Health Care Association
• The state should dedicate 20% of its existing nursing scholarship program for nurses who
are willing to work in long-term care. The state pays for these scholarships out of existing
license fees and fines. Illinois Council on Long Term Care (ICLTC)
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