May 2, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact: Lauren Shaham, AAHSA, 202-508-1219

Statement from Larry Minnix, President & CEO, American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA) on the Senate Special Committee on Aging Hearing

"The Nursing Home Reform Act Turns Twenty: What Has Been Accomplished, and What Challenges Remain?"

Washington, D.C. - The twentieth anniversary of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987's (OBRA) passage is an appropriate time to assess the progress made to ensure that America's oldest and most vulnerable citizen receive the highest quality nursing home care. In addition to exploring where we improvements are needed, we hope that this retrospective also will celebrate the ways in which nursing home care has advanced since OBRA enactment. Nursing homes are now participating in numerous quality improvement initiatives, such as Quality First and the Advancing Excellence in America's Nursing Homes campaign, to achieve excellence and earn the public's trust.

We welcome today's examination of the status and potential of the OBRA nursing home standards. After 20 years' experience with the federal nursing home standards and in view of the long-term care field's continuing evolution, it's fair to ask whether there are parts of OBRA that no longer contribute to the quality of care or even are counterproductive.

AAHSA believes there should be two types of nursing homes: the excellent and the non-existent. Residents and their families don't want nursing homes to close, they want them to provide quality care. The goal should be to displace substandard owners and managers, not residents and dedicated staff members. Ideally, a well-performing nursing home would assume management or ownership of a troubled home. However, the current enforcement system requires providers that take over nursing homes to assume the liabilities incurred by previous management, including fines, strict deadlines for correction of problems and other penalties previously imposed. The resources put to meeting these liabilities would be better spent on improving quality of care.

AAHSA strongly urges passage of legislation similar to H.R. 3437, the Nursing Facility Quality Improvement Act introduced in the last Congress, which addressed the following issues: the counterproductive nurse aide training lock-out, the need for joint training of nursing home and surveyor staff, allowing states to demonstrate alternative quality assurance systems, facilitating new ownership for chronic problem homes, and use of civil monetary funds to improve nursing home quality. This legislation's passage will help providers ensure quality that people can trust.

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About AAHSA
The members of the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (www.aahsa.org) help millions of individuals and their families every day through mission-driven, not-for-profit organizations dedicated to providing the services that people need, when they need them, in the place they call home. Our 5,800 member organizations, many of which have served their communities for generations, offer the continuum of aging services: adult day services, home health, community services, senior housing, assisted living residences, continuing care retirement communities and nursing homes. AAHSA’s commitment is to create the future of aging services through quality people can trust.