11:31 AM 25 Mar 1999
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PRESIDENT CLINTON UNVEILS NEW PROTECTIONS FOR NURSING HOME RESIDENTS
Signing Ceremony for the Nursing Home Resident Protection Act of 1999
The Oval Office, The White House
March 25, 1999
Today, President Clinton will sign the Nursing Home Resident Protection
Act of 1999, which prohibits nursing homes that decide to withdraw from
the Medicaid program from expelling or transferring current residents who
are enrolled in Medicaid. He will also urge Congress to pass the nursing
home quality enforcement provisions in his FY 2000 budget, which provide
over $309 million to prevent nursing'home resident abuse and neglect, an
unprecedenteq 31 percent increase ($74 million) over last yearD,s funding
level.
A BIPARTISAN EFFORT TO PROTECT VULNERABLE OLDER AMERICANS
The Nursing Home Resident Protection Act of 1999 provides critical new
protections to th~ hundreds of thousands of nursing home patients who rely
on Medicaid to pay for their care. Current law allows nursing homes to
reduce or eliminate the portion of their facilities that are available to
Medicaid patients as long as the residents are given 30 days notice before
they will have to leave the facility. This legislation, sponsored by
Congressman Michael Bilirakis (R-FL) and Congressman Jim Davis (D-FL),
together with Senator Bob Graham (D-FL), prohibits nursing homes that
decide to stop accepting Medicaid patients from evicting those residents
who currently depend on the program to pay for their care. It was
approved by an overwhelming margin (398-12) in the House and by unanimous
consent in the Senate. Two-thirds of nursing home residents depend on
Medicaid to pay for their nursing home care, and with nursing home costs
averaging $40,000 a year, about half of the residents who begin by paying
for their care with their own money and health insurance must turn to
Medicaid within three to five years.
AN UNPRECEDENTED INVESTMENT IN QUALITY CARE FOR NURSING HOME RESIDENTS
President Clinton has proposed an unprecedented investment of $309 million
for nursing home quality enforcement activities in his FY 2000 budget, an
increase of 31 percent ($74 million) over last yearD,s funding level. In
addition to providing an additional $47 million for state survey and
certification activities, an increase of 21.5 percent over last yearD,s
funding level - the proposals in the PresidentD,s budget will provide
additional assurances that nursing-home residents will receive the quality
care that they deserve and expect, by: 1) requiring nursing homes to
conduct criminal background checks of employees; 2) establishing a
national registry of workers who have been convicted of abusing residents;
and 3) allowing more types of nursing home workers with proper training to
help residents eat and drink during busy mealtimes. President ClintonD,s
investment in ensuring high quality care for these vulnerable older
Americans stands in stark contrast to the proposed Republican budget,
which cuts funding for nursing home quality enforcement activities by 10
percent.
BUILDING ON A LONGSTANDING COMMITMENT TO PROVIDING QUALITY HEALTH CARE TO
NURSING HOME RESIDENTS
The Clinton Administration has made ensuring the health and safety of
nursing home residents a top priority and has issued the toughest nursing
home regulations in the history of the Medicare and Medicaid programs.
Since 1993, President Clinton has taken steps to ensure that all nursing
home residents receive good quality care, including: 1) increasing
monitoring of nursing homes to ensure that they are in compliance; 2)
requiring states to crack down on nursing homes that repeatedly violate
health and safety requirements; and 3) changing the inspection process to
increase the focus on preventing bedsores, malnutrition, and resident
abuse. Most recently, the President has directed HHS to: 1) create higher
civil monetary penalties for quality violations and provide that these
penalties will be more quickly determined and imposed; 2) require states
to investigate resident complaints within 10 days; and 3) begin a national
campaign this spring to educate the public about the risk of malnutrition
and dehydration and preventing abuse and neglect.
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