Posted on: Wednesday, April 16, 2003
Proponents of care-home-inspection bill try to rally support
By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer
Advocates for Hawai'i's elderly are spending tens of thousands of dollars to convince legislators to support the last surviving bill that mandates annual unannounced inspections of adult residential care homes.
House Bill 914 will be discussed possibly as early as this week when the conference committee meets at the State Capitol. Three other inspection bills have fallen by the wayside.
AARP Hawai'i has made care-home inspections its top priority and plans a march to the Capitol for the meeting, said Greg Marchildon, executive director.
"This is really it, and this is one of those issues this session where the conference committee is going to make or break this issue," he said.
Signs are being made, T-shirts handed out and free parking arranged for members, he said. He had no exact number but estimated the cost of the lobbying to be "in the tens of thousands of dollars."
The issue of inspections at the state's 545 licensed care homes, which handle the majority of adult care in Hawai'i, has generated packed hearings and passionate testimony.
Critics say the present practice of providing a tentative inspection date creates the potential for abuse and neglect during the rest of the year.
But care-home owners say the inspections are an invasion of privacy because they are lengthy and disruptive for everyone, including family members.
The inspections are governed by administrative rules in the state Department of Health, which licenses the homes. Health officials were ordered to make inspections unannounced in 1999 by then-director Bruce Anderson.
But the changes were never made, in part because health officials, care-home owners and advocates for the elderly could not agree on what should be done.
In fact, health officials held their first public hearing on the subject yesterday. They will not have the final wording for their rule change for several weeks.
The inability of health officials to make the changes prompted the Legislature to act this session.
House Bill 914 has the blessings of AARP Hawai'i because it says the Department of Health "shall conduct" annual unannounced inspections. Versions that have said "may conduct" are potentially too weak, the organization has said.
Sen. Rosalyn Baker, D-5th (W. Maui, S. Maui), is chairwoman of the Human Services Committee and a member of the conference committee. She is optimistic the bill will be approved without significant changes because "just causes ultimately prevail," she said.
Rep. Dennis Arakaki, D-30th (Moanalua, Kalihi Valley, Alewa), who also is a member of the conference committee, has problems with the current version and predicts it will require lengthy discussion.
