State long-term care ombudsman backs stronger notice rules, emergency protections and senior bill of rights

Mairead Painter, the state long-term care ombudsman, told the Aging Committee on Feb. 28 that Connecticut needs clearer rules and better implementation to protect residents of nursing homes, residential care homes and other long‑term care settings.

Painter testified in support of several bills on the committee’s agenda, including HB 6972 (transfers and discharges in residential care homes), HB 6985 (nursing home and residential care home abandonment), HB 6986 (a senior citizens bill of rights) and HB 6987 (closures and evacuations for nursing homes and residential care homes). She said stronger notice and enforcement provisions would give her office and residents a realistic opportunity to appeal involuntary discharges and to secure placement and items when a facility closes or evacuates. “Strengthening notification requirements will ensure that my office is appropriately notified and that we have the opportunity during the limited window of time to file an appeal,” Painter said in her testimony.

Painter recommended clarifying when a notice “must come to my office timely,” so that failures to notify would be understood up front and could be remedied. On abandonment (HB 6985), she told the committee the bill’s classification of abandonment as a…