More laws won’t help seniors
Denver Rocky Mountain News
OPINION
July 2, 2001
By Michael K. Schonbrun
Senior health care - and assisted living in particular - has been in the news lately, with much of the coverage questioning care levels offered by some of the large health care chains and a push by some members of Congress for increased federal regulation. Staffing levels, capital availability, consumer choice, governmental regulation, federal versus state oversight, and defining the right characteristics of the competent senior living operator have all been brought under the microscope.
The assisted living industry - in Colorado and elsewhere - has grown exponentially in the last five years to meet a need for quality senior living arrangements. Like most areas of American life, consumer choice is driving this change. Under the umbrella of assisted living, residents and their families have found a smart alternative for aging in place with a flexible homelike environment, and options for assistance with the activities of daily living and home health care, if necessary.
As our population grays, more choices like assisted living will be sought by independent-minded Baby Boomers. As has been reported extensively, we’re aging as a nation. Colorado, though younger than the nation on average, is not immune to this demographic shift. in addition, many of us our are seeing our parents from elsewhere move here to enjoy our state’s natural amenities and to be closer to our families.
What’s to be done? First, recent events suggest that locally owned and operated facilities will be better able to monitor and react to the changing needs of seniors in their communities. Physicians and hospital directors have long believed that all health care is local.
Many of Colorado’s 550 senior health care facility operators remain close to the residents they work for. This helps us to monitor the quality of the facility and programs offered. For example, I maintain an office in a vacant resident apartment. As a result, I pass and talk with residents in the halls, dining areas, great room and garden. Such “on the ground” interaction is invaluable in a way that cannot be matched by someone in a distant corporate office.
The availability of staff and the money to pay for quality workers are also important factors. We have, as any manager of a senior living community can attest, strong competition for hourly staff from restaurants and retail stores as well as other health care providers. This makes it challenging to hire and retain health care workers. In addition, lackluster Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement has added additional pressure to deliver quality care.
While we grapple with these issues, some legislators - in particular in Washington, DC - endorse more regulations for assisted living. This is likely to strangle innovation and stifle consumer choice by forcing promising new models of senior care into a rigid regulatory straitjacket. It’s far too soon in the evolution of senior living to impose a strict set of “dos” and “don’ts.”
Yes, some regulation is necessary to ensure a baseline for safety and health. In fact, though, all 50 states already regulate assisted living and many are revising these standards to reflect new concerns. But federal regulation is not the answer.
Health care regulation has always been regulated by the states and by voluntary associations, usually made up of peer groups of other health professionals. Doctors, nurses, and pharmacists are all licensed by the states in which they practice, hospitals, by the states and a voluntary accrediting body.
If more regulations and more regulators ensured better care, then the quality of care in all our nation’s nursing homes would be the greatest. Sadly, we know that is not always the case.
More regulation from Washington would result only in more paperwork and divert attention and staff time from resident focus and care. It will hinder a popular consumer preference for an evolving senior living model. Consumer choice is needed to separate the winners from the losers in models of delivering housing, social services and health care. Operators who tailor programs and efforts to satisfy families and residents will thrive, while those that don’t will disappear. That, not regulation, will push us to excel.
Michael K. Schonbrun is founder and CEO of Balfour Senior Care in Louisville and VP of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association.