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Illinois
Council on Long Term Care
Illinois Health Care Association
Life Services Network of Illinois
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 6, 2006
95%
of Illinois Legislative Candidates Support Increased
Funding
for Both Community-Based Senior Services and
Nursing Homes
CHICAGO – Ninety-five
percent of 61 state candidates responding to a recent
survey feel that Illinois should increase funding for both
community-based senior services and for nursing
facilities, rather than decrease funding for nursing
facilities just to increase funding to community
agencies.
“Home and community-based service
options must be paired with independent living, assisted
living and skilled nursing care options in a seamless
spectrum, so that seniors, no matter where they live,
have access to an essential set of cost-efficient
services,” said Terrence Sullivan, executive director
of the Illinois Council on Long Term Care. “Funding
for home- and community-based services needs to be
increased, but not the expense of quality restorative
and rehabilitative care for nursing home residents.”
The Illinois Council on Long Term
Care, the Illinois Health Care Association and Life
Services Network of Illinois recently distributed a
questionnaire about the key issues affecting the care of
nursing home residents to all state candidates running
for representative and senator.
In 2004, senior citizen policy
stakeholders, including the state’s three nursing home
associations, crafted legislation intended to re-create
the state’s service system for older adults. The Act,
known at the Older Adults Services Act (Senate Bill
2880), calls for “the transformation of Illinois’
comprehensive system of older adults services from
funding primarily a facility-based services delivery
system, taking into account the continuing need for
24-hour skilled nursing care and congregate housing with
services.”
The law calls for the expansion or
implementation of services to seniors that allow them to
stay in their own home. However, the underlying
importance of residential rehabilitation services is
also a key part of the legislation. The nationwide trend
is toward community-based services, but a nursing
home’s team of professionals will always be needed for
the late stage Alzheimer’s, medically fragile or
short-term rehabilitation resident.
“The long term care profession
supports the expansion of home- and community-based
services to seniors, as long as that expansion does not
destroy the underlying long term care infrastructure,”
said Dave Voepel, executive director of the Illinois
Health Care Association. “Nursing and rehabilitation
facilities provide an essential safety net in the care
of seniors for rehabilitation after a severe medical
event or to support them during the end-of-life stages.
Funding for home- and community-based service expansion
should not come from money already allocated to care for
seniors in skilled nursing facilities.”
The long term care profession has
been working for two years as active participants on the
Older Adults Services Advisory Committee. As home- and
community-based services are increased, nursing homes
need the ability to convert to other types of service
delivery models.
“Start-up grants should be
allocated to convert unused nursing home space into a
`hub’ for community-based services such as adult day
programs, home-delivered meals, outpatient therapy,
senior centers and senior transportation,” said Dennis
Bozzi, President of Life Services Network of Illinois.
“All of the medical, nursing, therapy, dietary,
activity and environmental resources for effective and
cost-efficient community services already exist in the
nursing home, particularly in communities where those
community services don’t currently exist. Why not use
existing nursing facility resources for the benefit of
the entire community? This strategy makes the most
practical and financial sense in creating the best
continuum of care options for Illinois seniors.”
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The state’s three long term care
associations – the Illinois Council on Long Term Care,
the Illinois Health Care Association, and Life Services
Network of Illinois – have joined together as the
Illinois Long Term Care Coalition to educate
policymakers about their commitment to care. This
coalition represents more than 60,000 healthcare
professionals, therapists and caregivers serving 80,000
residents in more than 800 specialized nursing and
rehabilitation facilities in Illinois.
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