SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WGEM) - Illinois nursing homes will undergo long-awaited rate reform this year. Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill into law Tuesday tying funding for nursing homes to staffing levels and the quality of care provided for seniors.
Nearly 45,000 people in Illinois living in nursing homes rely on Medicaid. Those patients make up roughly 70% of the nursing home residents in Illinois. The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services has been negotiating a patient-driven payment model for several years.
Lawmakers and advocates say this law ensures Illinois will no longer allow facilities to put profits over those people. The state will now invest more than $700 million in Medicaid funding for the nursing home industry, simplifying and expanding the current nursing home assessment tax and providing additional general revenue funds.
“When the pandemic hit, all the system’s most egregious cracks and faults were exposed. Enough is enough,” Pritzker said. “We are standing together to stop the bad actors from billing extra while they provide poor quality care for their residents.”
Pritzker said this law will help seniors will get the care they deserve. The patient-driven payment model is designed to more accurately reflect the clinical care needs of residents and hold nursing home owners accountable. It specifically requires transparency of financial disclosures from the people running congregate care facilities.
The law also includes a new pay scale for...
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