Department of Social Services Commissioner Andrea Barton Reeves joins NBC Connecticut's Mike Hydeck to talk about how two new laws will help our aging population. They include expanding eligibility for adult day care services and making it easier for families to understand what’s happening with their loved ones’ care.
Mike Hydeck: Did you know 73% of adults over 75 are dealing with dementia? And getting more senior citizens the care they need and helping their families navigate a very complicated system are two goals of some new legislation that passed this session. So how will all of this work? Joining me now to shed some light is the Commissioner of Department of Social Services Andrea Barton Reeves. Commissioner, welcome. Good to see you.
Andrea Barton Reeves: Thank you for having me.
Mike Hydeck: So House Bill 6677 deals with expanding access when it comes to adult day care. How would it do something like that?
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Andrea Barton Reeves: So right now adult day care is available. And it's actually been available, many people don't know this, since really the mid 1980s. So what we're looking for is the ability to have more people come in, maybe lower the age in which you can be eligible because right now it's 65. Maybe you can go down to 60. Because what many people don't know, and AARP actually has the statistic, that in the next few years in the state in particular, there will be more people over the age of 60 than there will be people who are 18 and younger. So we know that our state is aging, hopefully aging well. So under Governor Lamont, we're preparing for that. And this bill is a very, very strong first step in that direction.
Mike Hydeck: And it's early onset Alzheimer's and some other concerns, as far as health care is concerned, can be an issue as well, that will add even more people to those.
Andrea Barton Reeves: That's right. We do have a number of people in our state who are aging healthfully and they're aging well. But we also know that there are people that will need higher levels of care. So both of these bills, I know we'll talk about another, but adult day care and what we call adult health support, is also another way that we refer to it, is critical for families so that they know that the person that they love, it's often the person who raised them, has an opportunity to be somewhere during the day that is safe, that is dignified, and provides them with real stimulation during the day, so that they can be with their peers and their cohorts and then be with their families in the evenings or in a facility that is of their choosing.
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Mike Hydeck: You're not just sitting there watching TV all day long, you're having some activities. So because of things like how much adult day care can cost, the unavailability of enough slots for what we need, a kind of business has exploded in Connecticut over the last, arguably five years, maybe more, where in home care services happen. So it could just be a neighbor that's helping you out, it could be a child, it could be someone who started a small business, and they said, look, we'll come in and help you with things like mowing the lawn and getting your laundry done, and maybe make sure you're on schedule with your medications. But those are kind of a gray area, right? They're not exactly regulated the same way a home is, correct?
Andrea Barton Reeves: That's right. So there's different licensing standards if you have a nursing home facility, if you have a nursing facility. But quite honestly, what we're trying to do is we're trying to regulate and normalize what's been happening in communities for generations, where it's really been uncommon, especially in some communities, to place someone in a nursing facility. The community actually comes together and provides the kind of care. So this organizes it in a way. It licenses it. It gives us an opportunity to have some oversight and some consistency in the care and to also have an ability to deal with issues when they do arise and people aren't providing the care that they're receiving. And the elders in our community aren't being treated the way that they should be.
Mike Hydeck: So let's do a case in point. Say, I want to start a small homecare business, I have two or three people under my umbrella. How would you go about getting licensed? Do you have to pass a course and is that in effect now or will it be in effect later?
Andrea Barton Reeves: So it will be in effect. And there is some work that also the Department of Public Health requires that you have as well. And it depends also on the age of the person that you're taking care of. But we're talking about an older population. So there is some licensing and some credentialing that's important. And we also encourage people to continue with their education so that you can get continuing education credits, so to speak, in this space, so that we want people to remain up to date on all of the latest techniques so they're providing the best quality care.
Mike Hydeck: So it'll still be some time before that goes into effect?
Andrea Barton Reeves: It will be, yes. We're working on that very quickly.
Mike Hydeck: So some of the new legislation, and we were talking about this before we sat down, is actually going to make it easier for families to understand how much things cost and what the services are. It's all about transparency. What is this going to do?
Andrea Barton Reeves: So one of the things that it's going to do, it's going to translate into plain language, the reports that we receive at the Department of Social Services. That gives us profit statements, loss statements, assets that are being held, how money is being spent, and generally what the fiscal health is of a particular nursing facility. We receive these reports all the time. They are quite complex, they have many, many lines to them. And the people who interpret them at DSS quite frankly, have pretty advanced degrees in this area. But we're not expecting the general public or a family that's trying to make a decision about the most financially stable place or the best place for their loved one, to be able to do what we do. So that's why this legislation is so great, because it'll allow us to actually create, it will actually require nursing homes and nursing facilities to to create a narrative that's readable by the everyday person, and we'll be able to put that up on our website. That's also part of what it is, and you think you'll be able to…
Mike Hydeck: I gotta interrupt you. You know I'm passionate about this. When you get a bill from the doctor's office, and it has a weird code on it. And you as a regular person don't know their coding system or the insurance coding system. Will we be able to figure this out on your website?
Andrea Barton Reeves: Yes. So there won't be codes. They will actually say this is Nursing Home A, it's located in it's in such and such a city or town, right. This is how much money they have. This is what they have in assets. This is what they have in liabilities. This is their current financial status as of this particular point in time.
Mike Hydeck: And as far as care is concerned, if I need an extra nurse, it's not going to be a code, it's going to be this is how much it would cost.
Andrea Barton Reeves: That's right. This is what staffing costs. This is what supplies cost. So you'll be able to have transparency into all of that.
Mike Hydeck: So one of the other things that this addresses I read, and I have a little less than a minute. When a resident is going to be transferred, sometimes the facility says look, we can't care for them the way we want to, we want to transfer them somewhere else. It's going to help the family have a say in this, is that right?
Andrea Barton Reeves: Absolutely. Families actually already have a say but this will allow them even more transparency. They can know more about the facilities that they're considering and really understand their financial status before they make a decision about moving someone to another place.
Mike Hydeck: Because you want to be able to see the services in both locations.
Andrea Barton Reeves: That's right. That's right.
Mike Hydeck: Commissioner Barton Reeves, so much more to talk about. We'll have to have you back. We appreciate your time.
Andrea Barton Reeves: Thank you.
