A group of elected Republican leaders, including Senate Pro Tem Rodric Bray (R-Martinsville), Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, Gov. Eric Holcomb and House Speaker Todd Huston (R-Fishers), gather at a table to celebrate the signing of a COVID-19 liability shield in Indianapolis on Thursday. The bill protects nursing homes from certain COVID-19 lawsuits. Photo provided by Governor’s Office
INDIANAPOLIS – The COVID-19 pandemic exposed shortcomings in Indiana’s long-term care system, but the Indiana legislature took no action to reform care at the nursing home level this year.
Almost half of the nearly 12,000 Hoosiers who’ve died of COVID-19 resided in nursing homes and other assisted living facilities.
“There’s a lot of discussion around nursing home care … taking place as the administration has outlined changes that they would make,” House Speaker Todd Huston, R-Fishers, said. “I do not, frankly, remember a ton of bills that dealt specifically with that topic.”
Legislators filed a handful of bills related to care for the elderly, including a bill to allow nursing home residents to consent to room monitoring, but few attempted to address Indiana’s poor care outcomes exposed by the coronavirus.
“Obviously, nursing homes were kind of ground zero for COVID-19 … so that is of course a very serious concern,” Senate Pro Tem Rodric Bray, R-Martinsville, said. “We’ve had some conversations about that, but there’s no legislation right now.”
Advocates initially had high hopes for long-term care reform in Indiana, a system that disproportionately relies on skilled nursing facilities and assisted living rather than home- or community-based care models.
Jennifer Sullivan, the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration secretary, announced this year that the governor’s administration recognized a shift in Hoosiers, with more preferring to age at home rather than in institutional facilities. She called this a “rebalancing” of the state’s Medicaid budget, which pays significantly more money to facilities.
“We will always need quality institutional nursing home care,” Sullivan emphasized. “This is important to support everyone, and we want to make sure that everyone has access to these types of services across Indiana; we really just want to make sure that the entire continuum is strong and supports quality.”
On Wednesday, the state announced another 660 deaths attributable to longterm care facilities, bringing the death toll to 5,870 Hoosiers at nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
Kris Box, the state health commissioner, said the deaths were counted in the state’s totals but never matched with a nursing home and only discovered after an audit. Prior to the pandemic, the state failed to hold negligent and careless homes accountable, and the federal government rated 92 of Indiana’s 534 facilities with one star, the lowest possible rating.
LIABILITY SHIELD
On Thursday, Gov. Eric Holcomb signed the COVID19 liability shield into law to protect businesses from “frivolous lawsuits” and “aid in the state’s recovery.”
According to NPR, nearly 30 other states have granted legal immunity to nursing homes to shield them from COVID-19 lawsuits.
“Most Hoosier businesses and other organizations are making good-faith attempts to protect their customers and employees because it is the right thing to do and it makes for better business in the long run,” Holcomb said. “I want to thank lawmakers for rapidly passing this key piece of legislation.”
Senate Bill 1 received criticism for being overly broad in its protections and failing to hold nursing homes accountable for disproportionate COVID-19 deaths.
“Comprehensive care facilities should not be allowed to abdicate their responsibilities to residents and aggrieved loved ones,” Rep. Ed DeLaney, D-Indianapolis, said in a Feb. 9 statement. “The (Republican) supermajority’s broad pro-business, anti-family stance on civil liability shields will allow neglect and systemic failures resulting in the loss of life to go unchecked.”
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