Long-Term Care - Illinois General Assembly

≡ Enact the Family Caregiver Act, Senate Bill 1620 and House Bill 1196.
≡ Increase the non-exempt asset limit for the Community Care Program (CCP) under the
Department on Aging from $10,000 to $20,000.
• Provide quality training for dementia care. The single greatest factor of quality dementia
care in all settings is the competency of direct care staff. In order to ensure quality care, the
Alzheimer's Association supports innovative strategies to train qualified personnel in the
home, the community and in licensed care facilities. The Department of Public Health and
the Alzheimer's Association has been working on a dementia training manual in response to
Public Act 91-744, which requires the development of criteria for training people to provide
healthcare and home care to people with dementia-related disorders, and to assess the
effectiveness of those people by certifying them. The department should reproduce and
widely-distribute this manual.
≡ Provide dementia specific training for direct care staff. The goal should be at least 20%
of all required training should be refocused on dementia-specific issues.
• Improve quality assurance. The General Assembly plays a major role in determining the
quality of care that people with Alzheimer's disease receive, whether or not the state is
paying for that care. The Alzheimer's Association wants to ensure essential protections and
opportunities for people with dementia in the codes that regulate all settings.
• Increase staff minutes paid for by Medicaid, using the MDS criteria, to adequately reimburse
for the care of residents with Alzheimer's disease. That new payment methodology should
also recognize that, while the condition of people with dementia may not improve, their
quality of life should be maintained, and their care deserves equitable reimbursement.
• Restore the $1.65 million for the Alzheimer disease centers, including Southern Illinois
University, Rush-Presbyterian/St. Luke’s and Northwestern. This funding supports a variety
of clinical, educational and research programs that improve the lives of thousands of older
persons and their families each year and bring millions of dollars to the state from the
Federal government.
• Restore funding for the expenses relating to the oversight and licensure of assisted living
establishments. A strong licensure code is needed to ensure the safety of the residents.
Licensure without enforcement is meaningless.
• Support passage of the Dementia Special Care Unit regulations, which is going to be facing
JCAR relatively soon. The 90th General Assembly enacted related legislation. It's
important to add Alzheimer/Dementia Special Care Unit items under the special treatments
and programs on the MDS. Research has shown that the most significant distinction
between regular and specialized care units for residents with Alzheimer's or dementia is the
increased staff time residents on the specialized units received for their care. Only
programs on file with the Department of Public Health under the Alzheimer's Program
Disclosure Act should be reimbursed under this item.
• Continue to work to support family councils that are present in long-term care facilities, and
also expand those out to assisted living establishments.
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