SB0322 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB095 05071 DRJ 29143 b

95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2007 and 2008
SB0322

Introduced 2/7/2007, by Sen. Don Harmon

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

305 ILCS 5/5-5.4d new

Amends the Illinois Public Aid Code. Provides for an increase in Medicaid rates for nursing homes for the sole purpose of increasing wages or providing new or enhanced employee benefits for non-supervisory employees. Requires nursing homes to apply for the rate increase. Requires nursing homes to document the use of moneys paid to them under this provision, and provides for penalties if the Department of Healthcare and Family Services determines that a nursing home spent any of the moneys for a purpose other than increasing wages or providing new or enhanced benefits for non-supervisory employees. Effective immediately.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning public aid.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Illinois Public Aid Code is amended by adding Section 5-5.4d as follows:

(305 ILCS 5/5-5.4d new)

Sec. 5-5.4d. Nursing facilities; rate increase for wages or benefits for non-supervisory employees.

(a) A facility licensed by the Department of Public Health under the Nursing Home Care Act as a skilled nursing facility, intermediate care facility, or skilled nursing for under age 22 facility is eligible for an increase in the rates paid to the facility under this Article for services provided on or after July 1, 2007. Any increase paid to a facility under this Section shall be for the sole purpose of increasing wages or providing new or enhanced employee benefits for non-supervisory employees of the facility. The amount of the increase shall equal $2 per non-supervisory employee hour. This amount shall be included in the rate or other payments made by the Department of Healthcare and Family Services on behalf of residents of long-term care facilities under this Article. The Department shall adopt all rules, including State plan amendments, that are necessary to obtain available federal financial participation as provided under Title XIX of the Social Security Act. Fifty percent of the additional payment authorized under this Section shall be for increased wage payments to non-supervisory employees, and 50% shall be applied to employee benefit increases provided by the facility to non-supervisory employees.

(b) For purposes of this Section, "employee benefits" may include, but are not limited to, the following:

(1) Paid leave (for example, vacation, sick leave, holidays, and personal leave).

(2) Health insurance, life insurance, and disability insurance.

(3) Retirement benefits.

(4) Other employee benefits approved, in advance, by the Department of Healthcare and Family Services.

(c) A facility must apply to the Department of Healthcare and Family Services for the rate increase authorized under this Section and must do so in the form and manner determined by the Department.

(d) A facility must document that a payment increase received under this Section was actually used to fund wage increases or new or enhanced employee benefits for the facility's non-supervisory employees. A facility may provide that documentation by either of the following methods:

(1) An audited supplement to the facility's cost report provided by an independent accountant, based on a review of payroll records, that verifies the expenditures.

(2) A copy of the terms of an executed collective bargaining agreement between the facility and its non-supervisory employees that requires the expenditures.

(e) If the Department of Healthcare and Family Services determines, after notice and a hearing, that any moneys paid to a facility under this Section were used for a purpose other than increasing wages or providing new or enhanced employee benefits for non-supervisory employees, the Department shall direct the facility to increase wages or provide new or enhanced employee benefits for the facility's non-supervisory employees, or both, to the extent necessary to ensure that the entire amount of the increase paid to the facility under this Section is used for those purposes. In addition, for the purpose of offsetting the cost of auditing and enforcement in connection with this Section, the Department shall recoup from the facility an amount equal to 50% of the amount of the increase paid to the facility under this Section that the facility did not use to fund wage increases or new or enhanced employee benefits for its non-supervisory employees.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.