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State Representative Joe Schomacker
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-5505
For more information contact: Jason Wenisch 651-296-2317
NEWS RELEASE
REP. SCHOMACKER’S HEALTH CARE REFORM PROPOSALS APPROVED IN COMMITTEE
ST. PAUL - The Minnesota House Health and Human Services Reform Committee has approved two bills chief-authored by State Representative Joe Schomacker (R-Luverne) aimed at supporting people with disabilities and maintaining qualified workers employed at nursing homes.
“Issues that are important to the disabled and our nursing homes are some of my top priorities,” Schomacker said. “I am pleased to champion these bills on their behalf.”
Schomacker’s first bill is based on recommendations from The Association of Residential Resources in Minnesota (ARRM), an association of 150 providers that supports people with disabilities.
The goal of its “Blueprint for Reform” is to address the concerns of the adult foster care community, providing more opportunities for the consumers and the ability to control what they do at a more local level. Provisions include developing an optional certification for adult foster care homes that serve persons with mental illness; establishing a task force to review and make recommendations on pilot projects for home and community-based services for people with disabilities; and allowing foster care homes to care for clients temporarily in respite care when regular clients are away from the home for a period of time.
Schomacker's second bill modifies the requirements on background checks at licensed care facilities.
Currently, an employee who returns to work at a nursing home or other licensed facility after being gone for forty five days or longer is required to have another background study issued. This is problematic for women who are on maternity leave or college students looking to pick up a shift at work while on break, as they are forced to pay for a new study.
Schomacker's bill lengthens the forty-five day threshold to one-hundred and eighty days.
The Department of Human Services estimates about fifteen hundred studies were performed last year due to the forty-five day period, and that this bill would reduce that number to five hundred.
Schomacker said the ARRM legislation now heads to the House Government Operations and Elections Committee for further debate, while the next stop for the background check bill is the Health and Human Services Finance Committee.
News Items
- REP. SCHOMACKER FINDS GOOD NEWS IN LATEST STATE BUDGET FORECAST - (Posted: 2012-03-07 00:00:00)
- REP. SCHOMACKER’S HEALTH CARE REFORM PROPOSALS APPROVED IN COMMITTEE - (Posted: 2012-03-02 00:00:00)
- REP. SCHOMACKER REACTS TO GOVERNOR’S STATE OF THE STATE ADDRESS - (Posted: 2012-02-20 00:00:00)
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