Long-Term Care - Illinois General Assembly

Failure to take these actions would mean that some of Illinois' most vulnerable citizens will
spend months, if not years, living in increasingly worsening conditions, and the crisis of care in
this state will continue.
Bill Kempiners
Illinois Healthcare Association
Illinois must engage in a comprehensive planning effort. This effort must include attention to
regulations and their relationship to quality care. It would be ideal if there was a new
environment in which providers are encouraged to deliver the highest quality of care rather than
discouraged by the current system of sanctions, fines, and other punishment. Illinois must
develop a new system that clearly defines the expectations, pays appropriately for meeting or
exceeding those expectations, and severely punishes those who knowingly or willfully do not
meet the defined standards. There are bad providers. Those entities must be shut down.
UTILIZE LONG-TERM CARE FACILITIES TO PROVIDE NEEDED COMMUNITY SERVICES
Long-term care facilities already exist in most communities, and long-term care occupancy rates
have decreased as alternative settings have been developed. In fact, in many downstate
communities the long-term care facility is the only health care entity, and the largest employer.
As these facilities already exist, they should be put to maximum use by expanding the services
that can be provided in and through these facilities. Capital costs related to these uses would
be far less than building a new, freestanding structure.
These existing facilities could be used to meet many community needs, in addition to continuing
their long-term health care mission. Long-term care facilities operate 24 hours per day, 7 days
per week and 365 per year. They are always staffed, and therefore may be able to provide
multiple services to caregivers, seniors and the disabled, including but not limited to the
following:
• Adult day care
• Senior centers
• Home health care
• Personal response systems monitors
• Transportation
• Congregate and carry out (special diet) meals
• Tele-nurse services
• Meals on Wheels
• Caregiver support and training services
To take advantage of this valuable resource, changes must be made in state and federal
regulations, or waivers must be sought.
PROVIDE INCENTIVES TO ELIMINATE UP TO 50% OF UNOCCUPIED LONG-TERM CARE BEDS
The statewide long-term care occupancy rate currently hovers at about 82% for several
reasons. There is a cost to the state for unoccupied beds, as part of the cost of caring for
Medicaid residents. Therefore, it is in the state’s interest to provide a financial incentive to
providers willing to give up some of these empty beds. However, as some of these unused
beds may be needed, as baby boomers reach their 70’s and beyond, long-term care providers
should be given the financial incentive to “bank” at least some of these unoccupied beds for a
definite period of time. If there is a need to reopen the beds within a certain time period, the
provider would lose a portion of the incentive originally received. Incentives could also be
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