This month, deputy editor Stephanie McFeeters was joined by Maine Monitor senior health reporter Rose Lundy to discuss proposed staffing regulations for assisted living facilities in Maine, as well as other aspects of Lundy’s investigative and accountability reporting on the long-term care industry.
In November, the Maine Department of Health and Human Services proposed the first major update to assisted living and residential care facility rules in more than 15 years.
The new regulations follow an 18-month investigation by The Maine Monitor and ProPublica into the state’s largest residential care facilities, which found dozens of resident rights violations, including abuse and neglect incidents, more than a hundred cases where residents wandered away from their facilities and hundreds of medication and treatment violations.
Experts, advocates and providers said requiring higher staffing levels, better training and more nursing care would help address these problems.
The scope of the changes came as a shock to many in the industry, and was met with an outcry from residential care facility operators, who said the associated costs could put them out of business.
The department responded last month with a new proposal, watering down its staffing requirements and giving facilities two years to phase in the changes, according to documents obtained by The Maine Monitor.
You can listen to the episode here. Tune in to listen live the first Thursday of every month at 4 p.m. on WERU 89.9 FM.
