A South Dakota bill that would require assisted living communities to create and post visitation policies is facing pushback from senior living organizations in the state.
House Bill 1139, introduced by state Sen. Phil Jensen (R-Rapid City), was created after families said assisted living communities were violating residents’ rights during the pandemic by restricting visits, including not allowing essential caregiver or compassionate care visits.
Opposing the bill are the South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations, which represents assisted living communities and other types of providers, and the South Dakota Health Care Association, the state affiliate of the American Health Care Association / National Center for Assisted Living. Many of the visitation rights listed in the legislation, they note, already are covered in state law.
SDAHO CEO Tim Rave said that although everyone wants to reunite families and residents, “we also want to do that in a smart, thoughtful, safe manner.” He said he supports posting guidance and addressing resident and family rights but said that the pandemic has been a challenge for everyone, and adding additional regulations would place a burden on assisted living centers “working as hard as they can” to keep residents, families and staff members safe.
Rave told McKnight’s Senior Living that the legislation takes a “shotgun approach where you probably need a rifle.” Requiring all assisted living communities to follow the same set of rules doesn’t consider community spread, facility outbreaks, staffing and personal protective equipment issues at individual communities, he said.
“Trying to do this with a broad brush and sweeping everyone in without taking into consideration what is the spread in your county, your community, what’s going on with your staff — it’s awfully hard to craft something specific enough to handle a very narrow concern,” Rave said.
The SDAHO has been involved in the legislative process, he said, and that involvement led to the removal of nursing homes and hospitals from the legislation, because federal regulations guide visitation policies at those types of facilities.
Supporters say the legislation increases communication between assisted living communities and families and streamlines requirements for all communities across the state.
“HB 1139 is about transparency and accountability,” Jensen said in a Facebook post. “If visitation is restricted, in any public health emergency, assisted living facilities across South Dakota would be required to post the documents, in full, that they used to make their decision. It would also require the facility to provide the law (federal or state) that applies and any scientific-based information used in making the decision.”
