HB2392 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB096 09089 JDS 19230 b

96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2009 and 2010
HB2392

Introduced 2/19/2009, by Rep. Esther Golar

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

20 ILCS 2407/Art. IV heading new
20 ILCS 2407/60 new

Amends the Disabilities Services Act of 2003. Creates the Rapid Reintegration Pilot Program to demonstrate that, with appropriate support and services, individuals with physical disabilities, individuals with mental illness, and individuals age 65 and older who need a short-term, placement in a nursing facility can successfully return to the community without institutionalization. Requires the Departments of Human Services and Aging to secure cooperation with hospitals within the geographic region served by the program in order to identify individuals who will have a short-term stay in a nursing facility. Requires Case Coordination Units, Service Coordination Agencies, and the Home Service Program to make efforts to assess whether an individual will need less than 6 months of care in a nursing facility and to make efforts to reintegrate those individuals. Provides for an enhanced Community Home Maintenance Allowance for these individuals under certain circumstances. Provides that the pilot program must operate for at least 3 years after the effective date of this Act. Effective immediately.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning State government.

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

Section 5. The Disabilities Services Act of 2003 is amended by adding the heading of Article IV and Section 60 as follows:

(20 ILCS 2407/Art. IV heading new)

ARTICLE IV. RAPID REINTEGRATION PILOT PROGRAM

(20 ILCS 2407/60 new)

Sec. 60. Rapid Reintegration Pilot Program.

(a) The Department of Human Services and the Department on Aging shall collaborate to jointly operate a Rapid Reintegration Program. The purpose of the pilot program is to demonstrate that, with appropriate support and services, individuals with physical disabilities, individuals with mental illness, and individuals age 65 and older who need a short-term placement of 6 months or less in a nursing facility can successfully return to the community without experiencing unnecessary institutionalization. The initial pilot program sites shall be those initiated or operated by the Departments in Fiscal Year 2009. The pilot program may be expanded to other sites as funding becomes available for that purpose.

(b) The Department of Human Services and the Department on Aging shall secure the cooperation of hospitals in the geographic areas served by the pilot program so that hospitals will coordinate with the Case Coordination Units, Service Coordination Agencies, and the Home Services Program to verify whether the individual is expected to have a short-term stay of 6 months or less in a nursing facility upon discharge from the hospital.

(c) The Case Coordination Units, Service Coordination Agencies, and the Home Services Program in the pilot areas shall make an initial assessment and a post-admission assessment to ascertain whether an individual needs a nursing facility level of care and whether the individual is expected to be in the nursing facility for a short-term stay of 6 months or less.

(d) The Case Coordination Units, Service Coordination Agencies, and the Home Services Program shall make necessary and appropriate efforts to reintegrate any individual who is found to need nursing facility level of care and is expected to be in a nursing home for a short-term stay, including collaboration with local service providers, such as centers for independent living, community mental health agencies, and area agencies on aging.

(e) If an individual who, through the pilot program, has been identified as needing a short-term stay of 6 months or less is admitted to a nursing facility, the individual shall be assessed for eligibility for an enhanced Community Home Maintenance Allowance to allow the individual to retain income for a period of up to 6 months in order to retain his or her home.

(f) The pilot program shall operate for not less than 3 years after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly . The Department of Human Services and the Department on Aging shall assess the effectiveness of the pilot program in preventing the unnecessary institutionalization of individuals with physical disabilities, mental illness, or who are age 65 and older and allowing them to successfully return to their pre-admission living arrangements.

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