Relates to applying a special Medicaid rate for releasees in nursing homes

• Democratic1

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Luis R. Sepúlveda says this is needed

Nursing homes and skilled nursing care facilities should accept elderly inmates whose medical conditions requires placement in a nursing home, but it's understandable that such facilities may have some concern about accepting a patient who is being released from a regional medical unit in a state correctional facility. The concern may be related to securi- ty, reputation, or special reentry needs of the individual that may result in additional cost to the home. For these reasons this bill would provide the same enhanced Medicaid rate to such facilities for accepting such releasees as is currently provided when accepting persons with HIV, traumatic brain injury or who require behavioral interventions. This bill does not reward bad behavior by paying a special rate to a facility that would otherwise discriminate against elderly persons because they were convicted of a crime; rather, this bill incentivizes and compen- sates facilities to accept our elderly parolees who are too frail, sick or disabled to be released to any place other than a nursing home or skilled nursing facility. On any given day there are approximately several dozen inmates in regional medical units in state correctional facilities who have completed their terms of incarceration and who have been determined to be safe to release but who continue to be held in prison regional medical units for lack of a nursing home in which to place such person. The Department of Corrections has five regional medical units with beds that cost as much as $260K per year to house an elderly inmate. Inmates often live in these units for years, occupying beds that are needed for other inmates, because we cannot find a nursing home bed for them outside of prison. State correctional facilities have dozens of inmates in their 80's and some in their early 90's. These facilities have units for inmates suffering from Alzheimer's disease, units for inmates who are on daily dialysis, units for wheelchair-bound inmates, and other specialized units for inmates who are frail, chronically ill or physically debili- tated. We can't force a nursing home to take a sick and elderly inmate, but we can incentivize their willingness and compensate them for their efforts. This bill will do exactly that.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.