Senate panel reviews bill to expand and better pay New Hampshire public guardianship services

Sen. Kevin Avard, prime sponsor of Senate Bill 127, told the Health and Human Services Committee the bill is intended to expand capacity and raise pay for professional public guardians so people who lack family or friends can get guardianship services needed to leave hospitals and to obtain long‑term supports.

Lisa Brits Silksky Stevens, chief executive officer of the Office of Public Guardian, said OPG serves about 1,400 Granite Staters and employs nearly 60 people who provide guardianship, fiduciary and trust services to adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities, severe mental illness, traumatic brain injury or dementia. She told the committee that the department's current contracted rate of $9.91 per day does not cover the actual cost of providing 24/7 guardianship services, which she estimated closer to $13 per day, and that the office has been operating with a structural deficit.

"Seventy percent of OPG's current cases are paid by DHHS contracts, though those contracts only make up 51 percent of our revenue," Lisa Stevens said. She described long hospital stays caused when patients need guardianship to participate in discharge planning but do…