Nursing home owners in the state of Michigan should anticipate changes to the timeliness and consistency of the state’s survey process after a bill was signed by the governor earlier this week.
House Bill 5609, which was introduced in December of last year, sought to establish clearer standards for health care surveyors in the state.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer gave the bill the green light on July 25.
State Rep. Bronna Kahle, one of the legislators who introduced the bill, previously told Skilled Nursing News in an interview that she wanted to see a regulatory process that recognized both the struggles and successes of individual providers, and offered support and guidance over the course of Covid – rather than create hurdles.
“In Michigan, we’ve been cited at more than four times the national average for staffing ratios,” she explained. “The fact is we are well above comparable national staffing ratios.”
The other sponsors of the bill included Reps. Jack O’Malley, Jeff Yaroch, Joseph Bellino, Bob Bezotte and Karen Whitsett.
Kahle previously told SNN that the goal of the bill was not to minimize the importance of skilled nursing oversight, but rather to bring the state back in line with others across the country when it came to the frequency, scope and severity of citations.
“These facilities have struggled and adapted and ultimately have become more agile and innovative through the pandemic and it seems like rather than the state recognizing the struggles they’ve been through … it seems like the state, through the regulatory process, is yielding a big stick that isn’t leading to a better outcome of care,” she said.
