AB 1309 would require nursing homes to include the same level of detail to justify a resident eviction that is required of RCFEs. Requiring this additional information will enable residents to better defend against inappropriate and unsafe evictions on appeal. Nursing homes are already required to comprehensively document their basis for evicting residents; AB 1309 requires that the facilities share some of this information with the residents.
AB 1309 Sample Support Letter
If submitting electronically, please copy the text below, and we encourage you to add your personal stories and perspective to it. If submitting by mail you can DOWNLOAD A WORD FILE to edit and print out. Your support letter can be uploaded using the Position Letter Portal at https://calegislation.lc.ca.gov/Advocates/. You will have to create an account if you do not already have one. Dr.
AB 979 Sample Support Letter
If submitting electronically, please copy the text below, and we encourage you to add your personal stories and perspective to it. If submitting by mail you can DOWNLOAD A WORD FILE to edit and print out. Your support letter can be uploaded using the Position Letter Portal at https://calegislation.lc.ca.gov/Advocates/. You will have to create an account if you do not already have one. Dr.
Support SB-311: Chairperson, Senate Health Committee
SB 311 would require the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) to submit a State Plan Amendment for California to become a Part A Buy-In State. SB 311 would benefit low-income older Californians and persons with disabilities, who rely on Medicare and Medi-Cal but struggle to pay costly Medicare Part A premiums, by simplifying the enrollment process for financial assistance.
Support AB-1309: Chairperson, Assembly Committee on Aging & Long-Term Care
California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR) is proud to sponsor and support AB 1309, a bill that would curtail the epidemic of unsafe evictions from California nursing homes.
Support AB-48: Chairperson, Assembly Health Committee
Despite dangerous side effects, condemnation by care providers, and a decade-long national and state campaign to reduce the inappropriate use of psychotropic drugs in nursing homes, the U.S. Office of Inspector General recently found that 80% of long-stay nursing home residents are receiving psychotropic drugs. A big reason why so many residents are drugged is that they are never given information about the risks, benefits, and alternatives to psychotropic drugs and the choice to refuse them.
Support AB-1085: Chair, Assembly Committee on Health
As a next step toward offering meaningful, person-centered health care to people experiencinghomelessness, AB 1085 (Maienschein) would require DHCS to seek federal approval for a Medi-Cal housing support services benefit in 2024. Setting a deadline will drive plans to develop theircapacity and providers to participate, improve health outcomes among Californians experiencinghomelessness, reduce homelessness, standardize eligibility, and draw down millions of federaldollars that we are currently not accessing.
Support AB-751: Author
Due to inadequate training and policy guidance, police all too often don’t know how best toprevent, report and respond to major crimes against seniors and people with disabilities.AB 751 will finally change that, by requiring every local police and sheriff’s department to adopta specific, detailed senior and disability victimization policy guiding officers and spelling out anofficer training schedule.
Support SB-525: Chair, Labor, Public Employment and Retirement Committee
Quality patient care requires strong staffing levels. SB 525 (Durazo) will bolster efforts to fill the hugeshortage of healthcare workers our state is facing by ensuring that health care workers are fairlycompensated. By setting a $25/hour minimum wage we can attract the workers we need to ensure we do not see a decline in quality of care for communities across California.
Support AB-979: Chair, Assembly Committee on Aging & Long-Term Care
AB 979 modernizes existing family council laws, so that members can meet and communicateelectronically and continue to operate during a public health emergency. The bill also ensures thatfacilities will be more responsive to concerns raised by family councils, discourages operatorsfrom undermining family council activities, and clarifies that control of the family councilmembership and participation in meetings lies with the family council itself.
AB-488 Fact Sheet
Using the Workforce and Quality Incentive Program, under which a skilled nursing facility provides services to a Medi-Cal managed care enrollee, AB 488 would require that the program includes staff training and general facility improvements aimed at addressing the needs of skilled nursing facility residents with vision loss.
Support SB-278: Chairperson, Senate Banking and Financial Institutions
SB 278 will strengthen California’s elder financial abuse protections by clarifying current language in statutes governing elder financial abuse under Welfare & Institutions Code §15610.30.
AB-1309 Fact Sheet
Nursing home evictions are typically haphazard, inappropriate, and dangerous. When residents’ lucrative Medicare coverage ends, often days or weeks after their admission, facilities have enormous financial incentives to evict them in favor of new residents with fresh Medicare coverage. Evictions are closely tied to profitability which is why residents are often sent home with inadequate care or to motels or homeless shelters.
AB-979 Fact Sheet
Family councils are organized groups of family members and friends of long term care facility residents who meet regularly to share information and discuss concerns about quality of care in the facility. Family councils are critically important to supporting family members and residents and to maintaining high quality of care in long term care facilities.
2022 California Legislation
CANHR supported, opposed, and closely followed the below pieces of legislation during the 2022 session. Please check www.canhrlegislation.com for updated details on current legislation, and www.leginfo.ca.gov for information on specific bills. CANHR Sponsored Bills AB 1663 (Maienschein): Conservatorship The Britney Spears conservatorship case exposed deep flaws within California’s probate conservatorship system – demonstrating how easily people can become trapped in a conservatorship and how difficult it is to escape.
AB 48 Sample Support Letter
If submitting electronically, please copy the text below, and we encourage you to add your personal stories and perspective to it. If submitting by mail you can DOWNLOAD A WORD FILE to edit and print out. Your support letter can be uploaded using the Position Letter Portal at https://calegislation.lc.ca.gov/Advocates/. You will have to create an account if you do not already have one.
AB-48 Fact Sheet
Despite dangerous side effects, condemnation by care providers, and a decade-long national and state campaign to reduce the inappropriate use of psychotropic drugs in nursing homes, the U.S. Office of Inspector General recently found that 80% of long-stay nursing home residents are now receiving psychotropic drugs. The rate of psychotropic drug use in nursing homes alarmingly increased during the pandemic, as more facilities turned to sedating drugs to control and manage residents.
CANHR Bills Overview
Sponsored by CANHR Co-Sponsored by CANHR Supported by CANHR Opposed by CANHR
The ‘most important nursing home bill in decades’ nears passage in California
This article is related to AB 1502, Sponsored by CANHR. By Eli Kirshbaum, State of Reform, May 23 2022 According to supporters of Assembly Bill 1502, a number of nursing home operators in California are running their facilities without proper licenses, and their unregulated practices are significantly undermining patient care. The California Department of Public Health (CDPH), according to the bill, is allowing this to continue through lax oversight practices.
National Academy of Science Calls for Bold Reform of Nursing Home Care
On April 6, 2022, the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s Committee on the Quality of Care in Nursing Homes released a 605 page report – The National Imperative to Improve Nursing Home Quality; Honoring Our Commitment to Residents, Families and Staff – that is meant to be a blueprint for desperately needed reform of nursing home care.