Update: Gov. Katie Hobbs signed HB 2764 on April 8.
A bill expected to become law and targeting assisted living reform in Arizona addresses some best practices long touted by industry experts, but it also brings an increase in regulations, training requirements and fines for providers.
The Arizona Legislature passed HB 2764 last week and sent it to Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) for her expected signature. The bill contains many of the same components of HB 2653, which previously passed the Arizona House but was not picked up in the Senate.
The Arizona Health Care Association actively participated in stakeholder meetings about the bill, which the group’s president and CEO, David Voepel, said were productive.
“Many of our assisted living providers have been engaged from the inception of this bill and report that they appreciate that we were able to prevent other new statutory requirements that were either unreasonable or administratively burdensome,” Voepel told McKnight’s Senior Living. “We’re looking forward to participating on the study committee established by this bill and providing more solutions to long-term care issues in Arizona.”
Overall, the bill adds a definition of memory care for assisted living under the Arizona Department of Health Services-directed licensure. It will require any assisted living community with an AL Directed license to add eight hours of training for direct care staff members and four hours of continuing education in memory care training after the initial year of employment.
Voepel said that the new memory care definition is an important next step in assisted living licensure.
“We support the additional training requirements, as many high-achieving providers are currently providing that level of additional training or exceeding it,” Voepel said.
Also under the bill’s provisions, the state can continue to pursue any court, administrative or enforcement action against a licensee, even if a building is sold. And the state will not grant a license to any provider with past resident safety issues.
In a requirement that began Jan. 1, 2023, all assisted living community and skilled nursing facility providers in the state must verify that new employees are not on the Adult Protective Services registry for elder fraud and abuse. By March 21, 2025, providers annually must check a list of their employees against the registry and terminate the employment of anyone whose name appears on the registry.
“We hope that verifying new employees on the APS registry adds a new level of protection from fraud and abuse,” Voepel said. “We are deeply committed to identifying solutions to safeguard the frail and vulnerable residents we serve.”
The bill also increases certain fines and penalties from $500 to $1,000 and adds a per-person-harmed amount of $1,000 in certain instances. Voepel said that the Arizona Health Care Association will work through the rules process to add an assisted living scope and severity index.
In addition, the bill adds two new public seats to the Arizona Board of Nursing Care Institution Administrators and Assisted Living Facility Managers and will allow retired former licensed assisted living and skilled nursing workers to be board members.
The bill also creates a long-term care study committee with two components: assisted living community / skilled nursing facility and developmental disabilities.
AARP Arizona applauded passage of the bill, which it called a “significant” piece of legislation aimed at enhancing the safety, oversight and quality of assisted living across the state.
“House Bill 2764 addresses systemic issues in Arizona’s long-term care system by critically improving standards of care and enhancing regulatory oversight” AARP Arizona State Director Dana Marie Kennedy said in a statement.
Targeting assisted living
The focus on assisted living and other long-term care settings in Arizona comes after several high-profile deaths and abuse cases were highlighted in an Arizona Republic’s investigative series, “The Bitter End,” which chronicled resident injuries, care issues and sexual assaults in assisted living communities and nursing homes.
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) raised the issue of safety and transparency concerns in Arizona assisted living communities during a US Senate Special Committee on Aging hearing in January that focused on safety, staffing and pricing in assisted living. Kelly also mentioned the Arizona Republic series and the “horrifying” stories it shared.
The Arizona governor also announced during her recent State of the State address her plan to advocate for a package of bills to ensure that assisted living and other long-term care operators “cannot hide or erase their violation history,” increase fines, standardize inspections and establish uniform credentials for Alzheimer’s, dementia and memory care.
