Residential Care Scheduling Rules Proposed

Just when you thought your grandparents in residential care facilities will get the best care, in steps Senators Deb Patterson (D-Salem), Sara Gelser (D_Albany) and James Manning Jr. (D-Eugene) joining forces to introduce SB 714 that removes that individualized care and establishes a minimum staffing ratio for residential care facilities and facilities with memory care endorsements.

ORS 443.432 (1) was enacted in 2017 states: “The Department of Human Services shall develop or obtain, maintain and use, in collaboration with residential care facilities, an objective, technology-based, acuity-based staffing tool.” The law suggests an individualized “acuity-based staffing tool” that best serves that particular residential care facility. It’s a partnership arrangement for the best care based on the needs of current residence, with flexibility for specific evaluation for special scheduling based on residents’ needs.

“Acuity-based staffing tool” is industry defined as the allocation of clinical expertise and caregiver resources necessary to ensure a resident’s quality of care/life, based on their medical complexity, ADL dependency and behavior challenges, as determined by a formal assessment process.

SB 714 removes the flexibility for special scheduling and creates a one-size-fits-all schedule. It allows a residential care facility to avoid the partnership and the acuity-based staffing tool that evaluates the needs of residents, and use the minimum staffing ratio of no less than one awake caregiver for every:

(a) Seven residents from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
(b) Nine and one-half residents from 3:01 p.m. to 11 p.m. and
(c) Seventeen residents from 11:01 p.m. to 6:59 a.m.

The residential care facility may have no less than one direct care provider for every: (a) Five residents from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
(b) Nine and one-half residents from 3:01 p.m. to 11 p.m. and
(c) Ten residents from 11:01 p.m. to 6:59 a.m.

SB 714 drifts away from the acuity-based staffing tool that was the focal point of enacting OAR 443.432 that incorporated the industry definition to ensure families that their loved ones receive the care and attention they need.

–Donna Bleiler

Originally published in the Northwest Observer, Feb 4, 2021

Date: 2021-02-05 10:27