The Lead March 2, 2023 - LeadingAge Illinois

From the Desk of Angela Schnepf, President and CEO

Assisted Living:

LeadingAge Illinois Submits Comments on IDPH Proposed AL Rules
LeadingAge Illinois Bill to Create AL Advisory Board

Home and Community Based Services (HCBS):

CMS Releases Home Health PPS Payment Data in Advance of March 29th Call

Other:
LeadingAge Illinois Advocacy Center

From the Desk of Angela Schnepf, President and CEO

Please take a moment to let your representatives on U.S. Capitol Hill know you want them to support expansion of eligibility for home- and community-based services (HCBS) and better jobs with higher pay for the frontline caregivers who deliver HCBS. Use LeadingAge’s Action Alert template to send messages to your members of Congress to support S. 100/H.R. 547. Click here to take action now.

Kindest regards,

Angela

LeadingAge Illinois 2023 Public Policy Priorities

With our industry still recovering from the painful impact COVID has made and our workforce in crisis, our 2023 advocacy is critical to providing solutions for providers, staff, and most importantly residents. The 2023 LeadingAge Illinois Public Policy Priorities include, but are not limited to:

Promote workforce development in all settings. This work includes:
- Nurse Licensure Compact
- Medication Aides
- Allowing Direct Support Persons to work in Supportive Living to provide personal care and services. (SB2341, LeadingAge Illinois Direct Support Persons (DSP) in Supportive Living Legislation).
- Amending the Health Care Worker Background Check Act to allow communities to hire individuals with certain disqualifying convictions to work in long term care without a waiver when a specific amount of time has surpassed since their conviction. (HB2453, LeadingAge Illinois Background Check Legislation.

Pass legislation to create a Continuing Care at Home program. (HB3060, LeadingAge Illinois Continuing Care at Home (CCAH) Legislation.

Remove language from the Assisted Living and Shared Housing Act prohibiting a person from being accepted for residency to an assisted living establishment if the person requires sliding scale insulin administration. (HB3172, LeadingAge Illinois Sliding Scale Insulin in Assisted Living Legislation)

Secure a rate increase for Adult Day Services. HB3223, LeadingAge Illinois and the Illinois Adult Day Services Association (IADSA) Adult Day Rate Increase Legislation. This bill is also fully-supported by AARP and the Alzheimer’s Association.

Pass legislation to require the Governor to establish an Assisted Living and Shared Housing Advisory Board to include provider representatives, advocates, and other stakeholders to discuss assisted living issues and rules. (SB1814, LeadingAge Illinois Assisted Living and Shared Housing Advisory Board Legislation).
Add Resident Attendants to the list of direct care staff to provide an accurate depiction of direct care services within skilled nursing facilities.

Advocate for our proposed revisions to the Assisted Living and Shared Housing Establishments Code.

Defeat legislation that would change entrance fee contracts for life plan communities.

Impending Deadlines

Each week, we will keep you abreast of important deadlines.

May 11: Scheduled end of the state and federal public health emergency.

LeadingAge Illinois Submits Comments on IDPH Proposed AL Rules

LeadingAge Illinois submitted comments this week to the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) on their proposed changes to the Assisted Living and Shared Housing Establishments Code. We commented on their proposed changes and also commented on the need to amend various sections, utilizing language put together after months of meetings with our Assisted Living Cabinet. The Department has 45 days to respond to the comments before the proposed rules move on to the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR).

LeadingAge Illinois Bill to Create AL Advisory Board

Senate Bill 1814, LeadingAge Illinois legislation that would create a Governor-appointed Assisted Living and Shared Housing Advisory Board, has been assigned to the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. We need your advocacy in contacting your Senators and requesting their support for SB1814 and to join the bill as a Co-Sponsor. We have crafted talking points for you in making these asks. Click here to contact your Senator now.

CMS Releases Home Health PPS Payment Data in Advance of March 29^th Call

As required by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, CMS released data files which they will review as part of the March 29^th stakeholder call. Stakeholders can register for this call here. The data includes one public and one paid file:

CY 2023 Descriptive Statistics from Supplemental LDS Filesspreadsheet which contains information on the number of simulated 60-day episodes and actual 30-day periods in CY 2021 that were used to construct the permanent adjustment to the payment rate. The spreadsheet provides information such as the number of episodes and periods by case-mix group, case-mix weights, and simulated payments. These files are free to the public.
Supplemental Limited Data Set (LDS) filesfor CY 2023 rulemaking that include the simulated 60-day episodes and actual 30-day periods used to calculate the permanent adjustment to the payment rate. The LDS files can only be obtained through purchase and also submission of a Data Use Agreement (DUA). This set of data will cost $1,200 per user.

LeadingAge Illinois Advocacy Center

The 2023 Illinois General Assembly Spring Session is now in full swing over 5,200 bills introduced by legislators, with more to come. The LeadingAge Illinois public policy team will be pushing for our Board-approved public policy priorities, while also advocating for member interests by supporting legislation that brings about solutions to provider challenges, while opposing and working to stop bills that place undue burden on member settings. We will send out more information on the LeadingAge Illinois legislation as they are officially introduced. You can also view all of the bills we are tracking on the LeadingAge Illinois Legislative Tracker which is live updated on active in the LeadingAge Illinois Advocacy Center. If you have any questions, contact Jason Speaks, director of government relations.