Long term care bill considered in Massachusetts Senate

BOSTON (WWLP) – House Speaker Ron Mariano has made it a priority throughout this session to pass a bill that would improve the quality of long-term care facilities in Massachusetts.

Almost eight months after the Massachusetts House of Representatives’ passage of a bill to quote “improve quality and oversight of long-term care,” the State Senate says they expect to pass their version before the end of the session.

This 35-page House bill, whose first version predates the COVID-19 pandemic, is meant to address staffing shortages, infection control policies, and other potential issues in the senior care system.

It intends to enforce new policies by quadrupling penalties the Attorney General can give to non-compliant long-term care facilities and double the statute of limitations to 4 years. This comes after long-term care facilities closures in western Massachusetts including locations in Agawam, Chicopee, Savoy, Springfield, and Westfield, just since summer 2021.

House Speaker Ron Mariano has made long-term care facility reform a priority throughout his term. Before House passage, Mariano released a statement saying this legislation “will not only improve the quality of care that residents receive, it will increase capacity and help acute care hospitals more efficiently discharge patients.”

The House Chair of the Elder Affairs Committee, Representative Thomas Stanley, last week criticized the Senate on their delay in moving this bill. While the Senate President declined to respond to this criticism, Senator Pat Jehlen who is Senate Chair of the Elder Affairs Committee, said she expects the Senate to pass the bill in time to make it to the governor’s desk to be signed into law.

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