Committee advances bill to codify nursing-home services, visitation and billing protections

The Senate Committee on Health, Hospitals and Human Services voted to forward bill 36-0003, as amended, to the Committee on Rules and Judiciary after testimony from the Attorney General’s Office, the Department of Human Services (DHS), AARP and others and a recorded committee vote of 5 in favor, 0 opposed, 2 excused.

The measure, sponsored by Senator Angel L. Boulkes Jr., would add a new Chapter 76 to Title 19 of the Virgin Islands Code to specify services nursing homes and assisted-living facilities must provide, limit financial charges, guarantee visitation rights and codify resident protections. Senator Angel L. Boulkes Jr., the bill sponsor, said the legislation “strengthens the standard of care, transparency, and dignity for our most vulnerable residents” and that the measure “aligns and reinforces these protections under the Virgin Islands code to ensure that they are respected, enforced, and consistently applied here at the local level.”

Why it matters

The committee and testifiers framed the bill as an effort to bring territorial practice into alignment with federal nursing-home standards enforced by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and to create local enforcement and reporting mechanisms. Testimony described gaps in capacity and certification: the territory currently lacks multiple CMS-certified nursing homes, and DHS operates two homes for the aged (Herbert Grigg on St. Croix and Queen Louise on St. Thomas) that are not CMS-certified, limiting the territory’s ability to bill Medicaid for long-term care at scale.

What the bill and amendments do

The bill text read into the record describes requirements for hygiene, nutrition, mobility assistance, communication supports, and protections against billing for services covered by Medicare or Medicaid. Sponsor Boulkes told the committee an amendment (filed as amendment 36-406 in the hearing)…