The federal government does not oversee the industry.
The chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), called Thursday’s hearing citing The Post’s reporting. He said deliberations about potential federal regulations would continue and asked the public to send stories of costs and care to help inform the committee. Casey said Thursday’s hearing — which included testimony from an advocate, an industry representative and a loved one who called the committee to report bad care — was the start of the biggest review of assisted living by the Senate in 20 years.
“Unfortunately, what I heard today makes clear that we have a long way to go when it comes to guaranteeing the level of care that older Americans in assisted-living facilities deserve,” Casey said in a statement after the hearing.
Richard J. Mollot, executive director of the Long Term Care Community Coalition, testified that consumers can’t be assured they will get quality care without national standards. “It is time for [federal regulation] … so that when someone accesses dementia care, it means something, it’s not just a term of art,” he said.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a member of the committee, agreed. She called for federal regulation of assisted-living facilities on a par with government oversight of nursing homes, which measures cost and quality and includes a website allowing consumers to look up staffing data and incident reports. She said the government needs to start by demanding quality and incident information from assisted-living operators.
“This has gone on long enough without federal oversight,” Warren said during the hearing. In a hallway interview after the session, she added, “It’s important we get these regulations in place before private equity has scooped up every assisted-living facility around the country and stripped it of the assets they have.”
Prospects for the introduction of legislation remain uncertain, however, much less the passage.
The largest assisted-living lobbying group in Washington, the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL), pledged after the hearing to “support collaboration and transparency among policymakers, providers and the public” and educate people about the benefits of state regulation. Argentum, another industry group, said its members receive high resident and family satisfaction scores under the regulatory system. Industry representatives have previously said federal regulation would damage the assisted-living industry and drive up costs.
Casey did not commit to any particular provision that could be considered by Congress. The ranking Republican of the committee, Sen. Mike Braun (Ind.), cautioned against federal regulation and said he favors state regulation and oversight. But he did advocate for a stronger government role in promoting transparency about costs and quality in facilities.
“If you don’t do a good job, you don’t welcome competition and transparency — you’re going to invite the federal government into your business,” Braun said in an interview after the hearing.
Assisted living has grown dramatically since the Senate issued a report two decades ago — only to opt against regulating the industry. Assisted-living facilities now have nearly as many residents as nursing homes.
The industry’s rapid push into more costly…
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