Chapter 110 |
2019 -- H 5867 Enacted 07/08/2019 |
A N A C T |
RELATING TO HUMAN SERVICES - PERSONAL CARE ATTENDANT PROGRAM |
Introduced By: Representatives Casimiro, Marszalkowski, Shekarchi, Noret, and |
Date Introduced: March 15, 2019 |
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: |
SECTION 1. Sections 40-8.11-1 and 40-8.11-3 of the General Laws in Chapter 40-8.11 |
entitled "Family Caregivers Support Act of 2013" are hereby amended to read as follows: |
40-8.11-1. Findings. |
(a) Family members, partners and close friends provide the vast majority of long-term |
services and supports. |
(b) An estimated one hundred and forty-eight thousand (148,000) persons in Rhode |
Island are providing care at any one time to persons living in the community. The estimated value |
of their unpaid contributions in 2009 was one billion eight hundred eighty million dollars |
($1,880,000,000). |
(c) Family or other caregivers who provide the majority of care in the home are |
frequently under substantial physical, psychological, and financial stress. The stress, if unrelieved |
by support for the caregiver, may lead to premature or unnecessary nursing home and institutional |
placement and health and financial burdens for the caregiver. |
(d) Respite care and other community-based supportive services for the family caregiver |
can relive relieve some of the stresses faced by caregivers,; maintain and strengthen the family |
structure,; postpone or prevent institutionalization; and lead to better outcomes for both the |
caregiver and care recipient. |
(e) The percent of Rhode Islanders age sixty-five (65) years of age and older is projected |
to grow from fourteen percent (14%) of the state population in 2010 to twenty-one percent (21%) |
by 2030. As persons age, they have greater dependency needs and an increased need for long- |
term-care services and support. Younger people with disabilities also require continued |
supportive long-term-care services as they age. |
(f) As informal caregivers and families are a vital part of the long-term-care services and |
support system, it is an important public purpose to recognize and respect their contributions,; |
and to assess and support their needs,; and to provide them with counseling, education, and |
support services. |
40-8.11-3. Caregiver assessment requirement. |
(a) The comprehensive assessment required in subsection ยง 40-8.10-4(b) as part of |
Medicaid long-term service reform shall also include a caregiver assessment whenever the plan of |
care depends on a family caregiver for providing assistance with activities of daily or |
instrumental activities of daily living needs. The assessment shall be used to develop a plan of |
care that recognizes both needs of the care recipient and the caregiver. The assessment shall also |
serve as the basis for development and provision of an appropriate plan for caregiver information, |
referral and support services. Information about available respite programs, caregiver training and |
education programs, support groups, and community support services shall be included as part of |
the caregiver support plan. To implement the caregiver assessment, the executive office of health |
and human services shall adopt evidenced-based caregiver assessments and referral tools |
appropriate to the departments within the office that provide long-term-care services and support. |
(b) The executive office of health and human services shall develop annual reports to |
track data on the number of caregiver assessments conducted,; the identified needs of caregivers |
to include both met and unmet needs,; and referrals made for education, respite, and other support |
services. The reports shall be provided to the chairs of the house and senate finance committees |
as part of annual budget hearings and the chair of the long-term-care coordinating council and |
posted on the executive office of health and human services website. |
SECTION 2. Section 42-66-4 of the General Laws in Chapter 42-66 entitled "Elderly |
Affairs Department" is hereby amended to read as follows: |
42-66-4. Duties of the division. |
(a) The division shall be the principal agency of the state to mobilize the human, |
physical, and financial resources available to plan, develop, and implement innovative programs |
to ensure the dignity and independence of elderly persons, including the planning, development, |
and implementation of a home- and long-term-care program for the elderly in the communities of |
the state. |
(b)(1) The division shall serve as an advocate for the needs of the adult with a disability |
as these needs and services overlap the needs and services of elderly persons. |
(2) The division shall serve as the state's central agency for the administration and |
coordination of a long-term-care entry system, using community-based access points, that will |
provide the following services related to long-term care: information and referral; initial |
screening for service and benefits eligibility; and a uniform assessment program for state- |
supported long-term care. |
(3) The division shall investigate reports of elder abuse, neglect, exploitation, or self- |
neglect and shall provide and/or coordinate protective services. |
(c) To accomplish these objectives, the director is authorized: |
(1) To provide assistance to communities in solving local problems with regard to elderly |
persons including, but not limited to, problems in identifying and coordinating local resources to |
serve the needs of elderly persons; |
(2) To facilitate communications and the free flow of information between communities |
and the offices, agencies, and employees of the state; |
(3) To encourage and assist communities, agencies, and state departments to plan, |
develop, and implement home- and long-term care programs; |
(4) To provide and act as a clearinghouse for information, data, and other materials |
relative to elderly persons; |
(5) To initiate and carry out studies and analyses that will aid in solving local, regional, |
and statewide problems concerning elderly persons; |
(6) To coordinate those programs of other state agencies designed to assist in the solution |
of local, regional, and statewide problems concerning elderly persons; |
(7) To advise and inform the governor on the affairs and problems of elderly persons in |
the state; |
(8) To exercise the powers and discharge the duties assigned to the director in the fields |
of health care, nutrition, homemaker services, geriatric day care, economic opportunity, local and |
regional planning, transportation, and education and pre-retirement programs; |
(9) To further the cooperation of local, state, federal, and private agencies and institutions |
providing for services or having responsibility for elderly persons; |
(10) To represent and act on behalf of the state in connection with federal grant programs |
applicable to programs for elderly persons in the functional areas described in this chapter; |
(11) To seek, accept, and otherwise take advantage of all federal aid available to the |
division, and to assist other agencies of the state, local agencies, and community groups in taking |
advantage of all federal grants and subventions available for elderly persons and to accept other |
sources of funds with the approval of the director of administration that shall be deposited as |
general revenues; |
(12) To render advice and assistance to communities and other groups in the preparation |
and submission of grant applications to state and federal agencies relative to programs for elderly |
persons; |
(13) To review and coordinate those activities of agencies of the state and of any political |
subdivision of the state at the request of the subdivision, that affect the full and fair utilization of |
community resources for programs for elderly persons, and initiate programs that will help ensure |
such utilization; |
(14) To encourage the formation of councils on aging and to assist local communities in |
the development of the councils; |
(15) To promote and coordinate day-care facilities for the frail elderly who are in need of |
supportive care and supervision during the daytime; |
(16) To provide and coordinate the delivery of in-home services to the elderly, as defined |
under the rules and regulations adopted by the division of elderly affairs; |
(17) To advise and inform the public of the risks of accidental hypothermia; |
(18) To establish a clearinghouse for information and education of the elderly citizens of |
the state, including, but not limited to, and subject to available funding, a web-based caregiver |
support information center; |
(19) To establish and operate, in collaboration with the departments of behavioral health, |
developmental disabilities and hospitals; human services; and children youth and families regular |
community and aging service agencies supporting caregivers, a statewide family-caregiver |
support association and a, a statewide family-caregiver resource network to provide and |
coordinate family-caregiver training and support services to include counseling and elder |
caregiver respite services, which shall be subject to available funding, and include home |
health/homemaker care, adult day services, assisted living, and nursing facility care; |
(20) To supervise the citizens' commission for the safety and care of the elderly created |
pursuant to the provisions of chapter 1.4 of title 12. |
(d) In order to assist in the discharge of the duties of the division, the director may |
request from any agency of the state information pertinent to the affairs and problems of elderly |
persons. |
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon passage. |
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LC001508 |
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