Bill to Curb Abuses in State Nursing Homes Gains

SACRAMENTO — A bill designed to improve care in California nursing homes won the approval of a key Senate committee Wednesday.

The measure’s author, Sen. Henry Mello (D-Watsonville), said he had assurances that his bill, which passed on a 7-0 vote of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, would be acceptable to Gov. George Deukmejian, who blocked similar legislative proposals last year.

Mello said that the compromise measure, which would crack down on the abuse of elderly patients and increase state payments to nursing homes, does not include any of the provisions Deukmejian found objectionable last year. Mello said the governor’s staff has indicated he will sign it into law.

Optimistic Outlook “If this bill were to hit his desk today he would sign it,” Mello said. “I’m willing to accept anything the Administration is willing to accept.”

The bill includes provisions that would:

- Stiffen penalties for negligence in patient care and impose fines for falsifying medical records.

- Increase Medi-Cal payments to nursing homes this fiscal year by $8 million.

- Raise the minimum level of staffing at nursing homes.

- Outlaw discrimination against Medi-Cal patients and prohibit retribution against patients or employees who file complaints.

- Improve the training of state nursing home inspectors.

- Require the state to publish a list of nursing homes that are in good standing.

The original nursing home legislation was prompted by a Little Hoover Commission study that found conditions in many board-and-care homes so deplorable it was “unthinkable and immoral” for the state to allow them to continue operating.

Deukmejian, however, objected to several bills in the package that would have established new task forces and required nursing homes to hire more gerontological nurses.

Because many of the measures were tied together, his veto of those bills doomed the other bills he did support. The governor urged the Legislature to resubmit the bills in an acceptable form when it reconvened in December.

Legislation virtually identical to Mello’s Senate bill has been introduced in the Assembly by Democrat Mike Roos of Los Angeles, the majority floor leader, and Minority Leader Pat Nolan of Glendale. Roos said last week that he would ask for an immediate committee hearing, but no session has yet been scheduled.

Mello said he hopes to bring his measure to a vote before the full Senate next week and have it on Deukmejian’s desk in early February. The measure, an urgency bill, would take effect immediately upon signing by the governor.