Long Term Care & Senior Living Blog

Effective January 1, 2017, Illinois will enact Molly’s Law, which extends the time period in which a victim’s family can file a wrongful death lawsuit in situations where the victim dies as the result of an act that was intentional and violent in nature. This law was introduced by State Representative Terri Bryant (R-Murphysboro) in February 2016. The law amends the current Wrongful Death statute of limitations from two years to five years for scenarios where the death is the result of violent intentional conduct or within one year after the final disposition of the criminal case if the defendant is charged with first degree murder,

Advocate Health Care Network, the largest fully-integrated health care system in Illinois, agreed to the largest HIPAA Settlement to be paid by a single entity for potential penalties in the amount of $5.55M. The alleged long term non-compliance resulting in this settlement included four failures to comply with HIPAA including: failure to adequately conduct risk assessments, failure to limit physical access to ePHI, failure to obtain Business Associate Agreements, andfailure to safeguard an unencrypted laptop from an unlocked car overnight.

Sandberg Phoenix & von Gontard’s Long Term Care Team is tracking certain bills passing through the Missouri legislature. One of those bills that could greatly impact our clients is HB 2107 outlined below.

Illinois is now one of four states to allow the installation of electronic monitoring devices in residents’ rooms in long-term care facilities. The bill was proposed by Attorney General Lisa Madigan, approved by the Illinois General Assembly, and signed into law by Governor Bruce Rauner. The bill takes effect on January 1, 2016.[1]

The Senior Care Pharmacy Coalition (SCPC) recently released a study comparing the differences between LTC and Retail Pharmacies. I thought this study may be of interest to some firm clients, who have LTC pharmacies as part of their businesses. Many assisted living facilities (ALFs) and skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) provide pharmacy services for residents in their facilities, as well as provide medication therapy management and other clinical offerings to help improve the quality of care. The differences between LTC pharmacy and retail pharmacy often result in greater costs being incurred by LTC pharmacies. To ensure the important role LTC pharmacies play in the healthcare continuum, it is important that lawmakers and regulators understand the differences demonstrated in the study. Here’s a link to the SCPC article, and a link to the actual study conducted by Avalere Health.