Long-Term Care - Illinois General Assembly

CHAMPAIGN COUNTY HEALTH CARE CONSUMERS
Shift public policy away from providing institutional care and more towards home-based
services. Existing home and community-based systems should be expanded in Illinois and new
ones should be added.
• Amend the current waiver programs and develop programs that provide home and
community-based services to people who are elderly and to people with disabilities.
Utilize Medicaid funds to:
≡ Develop programs to support and maintain the independence of people who are
elderly and who have disabilities.
≡ Provide in-home support services to families caring for a member who is elderly
and/or has a disability.
≡ Expand existing programs and develop new ones to assist people who have been
placed needlessly in institutions to a more independent community-based setting.
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Stop deeming the income of parents of children with significant disabilities as part of
the process to determine eligibility for services for children.
• Develop a consumer-oriented plan to address the future of the long-term care needs of
its citizens. This plan should involve policymakers and consumers to examine the
state’s existing infrastructure for delivering long-term care services and the state’s
capacity to qualify for new and expanded revenue sources – and manage such revenue
effectively over time.
• Continue and expand the new home modification program, to help seniors and people
with disabilities to make necessary changes in their private residences to accommodate
their needs.
Jean Wilson (Person with disabilities): Centers must be able to attract and retain
qualified home care providers to people stay. Hospice care and visiting nurses, meals on
wheels, physical therapists – these are some of the people and services communities
need to have. This is will solve long-term health care problems. Give personal assistants
a pay increase.
SEIU STATE COUNCIL
Illinois nursing homes have a large number of problems, many of which are related to short
staffing and poor working conditions. As the primary payer for nursing home care, the state
bears a large responsibility for these problems because of its historic under-funding of that
industry. Cuts in federal funding and the state’s budget crisis will cause the crisis to deepen.
In 2002, Illinois nursing homes were cited for 3,168 violations of federal resident care standards.
78% of all homes inspected were found to have violations that caused actual or potential harm
to residents, including insufficient staffing; administering unnecessary drugs; unwarranted use of
physical restraints; failure to maintain adequate nutrition; failure to adequately treat or prevent
pressure sores; failure to treat urinary tract infections; inadequate infection control programs;
failure to prevent accidents; and failure to provide necessary services.
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