BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 895
Page 1
Date of Hearing: August 6, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
SB 895 (Corbett) - As Amended: June 24, 2014
Policy Committee: Human
ServicesVote:6 - 0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill phases in the requirement that the Department of
Social Services (DSS) conduct unannounced inspections of
residential care facilities for the elderly (RCFEs) at least
annually by July 1, 2018. The bill also requires DSS to verify
that a deficiency has been corrected no later than 10 days after
notification to the facility and allows DSS to extend the
compliance period in some circumstances.
In addition, the bill requires DSS to make inspection reports,
consultation reports, lists of deficiencies, and plans of
correction available to the public on its website and in its
district offices.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Ongoing costs to DSS of approximately $5 million (GF) once the
inspection frequency has increased to at least annually for
all RCFEs.
2)Initial costs to DSS in the low millions of dollars (GF)
annually for approximately three years during the inspection
frequency phase-in period.
3)Ongoing costs to DSS in the hundreds of thousands of dollars
for project development, testing and maintenance and other
related IT contract work necessary to make inspection result
details available on its website.
4)Ongoing costs to DSS of approximately $50,000 (GF) to verify
that deficiencies have been corrected within 10 days of
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notification to the facility.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . Recent media focused upon the abandonment of Valley
Springs Manor, a RCFE with 19 residents in the city of Castro
Valley. In May 2013 DSS, taking action in response to the
facility's poor care history, revoked Valley Springs Manor's
license. The revocation was immediately appealed by the
licensee, which allowed the facility to remain operational.
The licensee abandoned the facility during the fall of 2013,
ultimately leaving its frail clientele under the care of the
facility cook. It was not until the cook called "911" that
emergency protocol to protect the residents was activated.
According to the author, it is clear that what happened at
Valley Springs Manor in Castro Valley was both tragic and
disgraceful. The author believes this bill will help detect
and correct problems at assisted living facilities well before
a facility closure becomes necessary.
2)Background . RCFEs, commonly referred to as assisted living
facilities, are licensed retirement residential homes and
board and care homes that provide personal care and
supervision or health related services to persons who are 60
years of age and over, who voluntarily choose to reside in the
facility. RCFEs enable older persons to live independently in
a home-like environment rather than in a nursing home or other
institutionalized facility. Services include personal care
and protective supervision, including incidental medical
services, based on the needs of the resident.
There are 7,589 licensed RCFEs in California with a capacity
to serve over 176,000 residents. Licensed by DSS' Community
Care Licensing Division, RCFEs range in size from residential
homes with six or fewer beds to more formal residential
facilities with more than 100 beds. DSS is required to
conduct unannounced licensing inspections of the more than
75,000 licensed community care facilities, including RCFEs, at
least once every five years, more often in some circumstances.
3)2014-15 Budget Language . SB 855 (Committee on Budget and
Fiscal Review) Chapter 29, Statutes of 2014, stated "it is the
intent of the Legislature to, over a period of time, increase
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the frequency of facility inspections resulting in annual
inspections for some or all facility types." The bill would
require DSS to "update the Legislature on the status of the
structural and quality enhancement improvements during the
2015-16 legislative budget subcommittee hearings." While SB
855 does not include any statutory changes to the mandated
inspection frequency, the number and frequency of visits is
expected to increase due to the additional resources in the
budget.
4)DSS Website . DSS is required to operate an automated RCFE
license information system to provide information on current
and former licensees of RCFEs. DSS recently added to its
Website searchable historical information on the name of each
facility, its licensee's name and contact information, the
number of substantiated, unsubstantiated, and inconclusive
complaints filed against the facility, including complaint
severity and any resulting citations, and the number of
inspections, complaint investigations, and general visits the
facility has received. DSS indicates it does not currently
have the technological capacity to add additional information
to their electronic database, particularly the information
required by this bill, because the document formatting is
inconsistent with their system capabilities.
5)RCFE Reform Package . Due to long-term reform efforts by the
California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR), as well
as in response to a number of highly publicized events at
facilities that have raised questions about the adequacy of
RCFEs and the state's ability to comply with existing
oversight and enforcement requirements, a number of
legislative measures are being pursued to strengthen, address
shortcomings, resolve legal liabilities and gaps in the
provision of services, and ultimately reform the RCFE
industry.
6)Related Legislation .
a) AB 1454 (Calderon, 2014) would require DSS to increase
the frequency of unannounced visits of community care
facilities, RCFEs, child day care centers, and family day
care homes over three years, so by July 1, 2017, every
facility would be visited annually. This bill is pending on
the Senate Appropriations Committee's Suspense File.
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b) AB 2621 (Garcia, 2014) requires DSS to post similar
information on their website regarding child day care
facilities. This bill is pending in the Senate
Appropriations Committee.
1)Prior Legislation .
a) AB 364 (Calderon) 2013 would have required DSS to make
unannounced visits to most licensed facilities (except
licensed child care facilities) at least once every two
years. This bill was held on this committee's Suspense
File.
b) AB 419 (Mitchell) 2011 would have required the DSS to
conduct an unannounced inspection of a care facility at
least once each year and as often as necessary to ensure
the quality of care provided. This bill was held on this
committee's Suspense File.
Analysis Prepared by : Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916)
319-2081