Expanding the ability to enforce penalties on assisted living communities that violate a resident’s rights is a new goal for Maryland’s top attorney.
Attorney General Anthony G. Brown last week unveiled his top legislative priorities for the new year, including expanding the rights and protections under the nursing home Patients’ Bill of Rights to assisted living settings.
Brown is proposing to expand his office’s ability to seek relief and penalties when certain rights and guarantees in the Bill of Rights are violated, including a resident’s right to receive care and services, freedom from mental and physical abuse, freedom from physical and chemical restraints, and the ability to manage personal finances.
In announcing his priorities, Brown said that his initiatives are aimed at increasing transparency and accountability in the healthcare sector as well as recovering damages in certain environmental and other public welfare cases in a more equitable way to hold wrongdoers responsible in proportion to the amount of harm they are deemed to have caused.
“Our legislative agenda is focused on protecting the health, safety and well-being of Marylanders,” he said in a statement.
State senior living associations said they are reviewing Brown’s proposed legislation and update to the Patient Bill of Rights.
Ensuring that Maryland’s older adults have access to high quality care and services is a high priority for LeadingAge Maryland and its members, who have been actively engaged on a variety of regulatory and legislative efforts related to assisted living providers.
“Assisted living providers fill a critical need in our healthcare system,” LeadingAge Maryland President and CEO Allison Roenigk Ciborowkski told McKnight’s Senior Living. “Though we have not yet seen the final bill language, the actions proposed in draft form and as shared by AG Anthony Brown in the recent press release seem reasonable and to mirror what is already in place in nursing homes.”
She added there are hundreds of smaller assisted living providers in the state serving nine or fewer individuals, so it will be important for the state to weigh how any changes might affect these small providers.
“I have tremendous respect for Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, and we share a longstanding partnership and commitment to patient rights,” Health Facilities Association of Maryland / Maryland Center for Assisted Living President and CEO Joe DeMattos told McKnight’s Senior Living.
Similarly, LifeSpan Network CEO Kevin D. Heffernan told McKnight’s Senior Living that he would refrain from comment until a bill is introduced in the Maryland General Assembly.
“LifeSpan’s highest priority will always be the care and safety of residents, and we look forward to the opportunity to work with AG Brown, as always, on issues that involve Maryland’s most vulnerable older adults,” Heffernan said.
Other initiatives on Brown’s list of legislative priorities center on holding corporations accountable in proportion to the actual amount of environmental, health, safety and other public welfare harm they cause to the state, and requiring prior notice and consent for out-of-network procedures and hospital outpatient facilities fees.
