The Senate sponsor of a bill designed to provide more individual care in assisted living facilities calls proposed rules by the Department of Health and Senior Services "too strict."
Sen. Bill Stouffer tells the KY3 Political Notebook that he supports a motion by Rep. Bryan Stevenson to eliminate close to two dozen new rules currently pending before the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR).
"I agree with most of what Rep. Stevenson put forth," Sen. Stouffer said. "This is normal, part of the JCAR process. There's a few things he has changed I probably wouldn't have, but for the most part, I think he's doing the right thing."
Sen. Stouffer is referring to a slew of changes Rep. Stevenson is pushing for, which are listed here.
"The idea is to provide individual service plans that you, the facility and doctor agree on. What the bill is trying to do is treat individuals as individuals, and not as a group. We have to find some kind of moderation with these rules, and not overburden facilities with regulations," Stouffer said.
As one example, Stouffer referred to a rule requiring background checks for contract workers in facilities. "The way the department had phrased it, you had to have one individual staff person for each contract worker in the facility. So if you had 10 workers working on an air conditioner, you'd have to have 10 staffers accompanying each one. What we need to do is monitor the workers, but that requirement goes too far," Stouffer said.
Stouffer also noted that 35 other states do not have mandated staffing ratios in residential facilities.
"There's some things in these rules that we don't require of any other facility. So there's no sense in doing some of these things," Stouffer said.
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