Collins: Long-term care task force will address inequities in senior care

SPRINGFIELD, IL – Illinois State Senator Jacqueline Y. Collins (D-Chicago 16^th) secured passage last week of legislation creating the Long-Term Services and Supports Disparities Task Force to examine whether, in the wake of nursing home reforms enacted four years ago, individuals experience differences in quality of care depending on race, language and geography. The task force will then issue recommendations as to how state government can best address all remaining disparities.

“Illinois is a diverse state, and our aging population is also diverse,” said Collins, who co-sponsored the 2010 nursing home reform package. “Without studying the problem, we cannot know if our long-term care facilities and workforce are prepared to offer appropriate, competent and culturally sensitive care to all of our residents who need it.”

The legislation, Senate Bill 2773, would require the task force to report back to the General Assembly with its findings by July 1, 2015. The panel, on which government agencies, nursing homes, home care providers and the advocate community will all be represented, would examine levels of care in various settings: nursing homes, assisted living facilities, adult day care facilities and home health services.

The Senate approved the task force by a vote of 48-0 last Tuesday. The legislation is now under consideration in the House of Representatives.