pubTalk

In this blog post I'd like to talk briefly about a bill that is moving its way through the Minnesota House of Representatives, HR 2294, the Health and Human Services Finance Bill. While there are some beneficial parts of this bill, in this blog post, I'd like to talk about one major concern I have of the bill. According to the policy advocacy group, NAMI Minnesota,the funding for the bill is currently coming from permanently closing around 400 beds in corporate adult foster care facilities.

According to the Department of Human Services, corporate adult foster care refers to facilities that provide supervised care for 1 to 5 vulnerable adults. The "corporate" part of corporate adult foster care means that the license-holder of the residence lives outside of the facility but provides staff to care for the clients during the day and night. The level of care provided in these facilities differs depending on the facility and the need of the clients, but typically includes meals and other supportive services. The type of clients who reside in corporate adult foster care include those who are elderly or who are experiencing a variety of mental illnesses or physical and developmental disabilities.

I am very concerned about the proposition to fund a Health and Human Services bill by taking away beds for vulnerable adults. Reducing the number of beds in these facilities means that vulnerable adults who need high levels of care will have a reduced number of places to go and will need to wait longer amounts of time to enter these facilities. As it stands today, it is often difficult to find a bed in these facilities, reducing the number of beds available will make it even more difficult. The reduction in beds is particularly a concern for those clients experiencing mental illness. This is because many clients experiencing mental illness end up being referred to these facilities when they are discharged from expensive places of care such as hospitals or Intensive Residential Treatment Services (IRTS) facilities. For many of these clients, a reduction in beds will likely mean either longer stays in more expensive facilities as they wait for a bed to open, or bouts of homelessness. A negative feedback loop could also develop with this provision, as when beds in corporate adult foster care facilities close, it is likely that some facilities will no longer be able to be financially solvent and will have to close down, further reducing the number of beds.

The next stop for the Health and Human Services Finance bill is the Ways and Means Committee, where it will be introduced tomorrow on Tuesday, March 27th. It will be interesting to see how the bill develops, and hopefully another way to finance the various provisions in the bill will be developed.