All of us want safe, quality care for the elderly, sick, and people with disabilities. That is why in 2008, Washington voters overwhelmingly passed Initiative 1029, which required federal criminal background checks and increased training for the long-term workers who assist vulnerable seniors and people with disabilities. These are basic, common-sense protections that will help to reform a system that has been plagued by recent scandals. Yet despite receiving more "yes" votes than any measure in state history, politicians in Olympia ignored the will of the voters.
Instead, this year the Legislature reduced training requirements and delayed criminal background checks, putting more than 40,000 of Washington state's most vulnerable residents at greater risk. Initiative 1163 restores these common-sense protections, ensuring that our ailing seniors remain safe and are treated with dignity and respect in their own homes.
The people of Washington state want our most vulnerable seniors and people with disabilities to be protected. Initiative 1163 will require federal FBI background checks for long-term care workers. Currently, those workers receive only a limited state check that misses serious crimes - like assault or fraud - committed outside Washington. This obvious background check loophole needs to be closed, and closed now.
The initiative also re-establishes basic training standards. The legislature requires hairdressers to receive 1,000 hours of training before they are certified. Nail technicians get 600 hours of training. Meanwhile, home care workers do a difficult and important job, visiting seriously ill seniors and people with disabilities to help them take their medications, dress, bathe, clean, get out of bed and cook so they can remain in their own homes safely. Yet they do not get the training and the state certification that they need to provide quality care.
The current training requirements are obviously inadequate. Nursing home caregivers must get 85 hours of training, while many home care workers, who provide the same sort of care but in a more isolated, unsupervised setting, receive no training at all. This double standard needs to end. That is why I-1163 requires long-term care workers receive 75 hours of basic training, similar to that of nursing home caregivers, and requires that they pass a state certification exam before being put in a position of responsibility with our seniors.
The opposition to I-1163 is being led by scandal-tarnished adult family home providers who put their own profits ahead of the well-being of their clients. The Seattle Times recently published "Seniors for Sale," a shocking investigative series that unearthed horrific stories of abuse and neglect in these homes. Since 2008, citations for abuse and neglect at adult family homes have risen by 15 percent, yet these for-profit providers continue to fight these improvements because they don't want to pay to train their own workers.
They are attacking I-1163 with a campaign based on false claims. For instance, they claim that 1163 will cost $80 million per two-year budget cycle, but the official non-partisan fiscal analysis shows that the actual cost to state taxpayers to implement these standards is only $13 million over the next six years, or less than one-30th of one percent of the overall budget. That figure does not take into account the millions the state will save as fewer seniors are forced into costly, state-funded nursing home care.
Moreover, 1163 protects taxpayers by capping administrative expenses, requiring that at least 90 percent of all program funds go to direct care. The measure also requires the hiring of full-time fraud investigators to ensure that clients receiving services at taxpayer expense are medically and financially qualified to receive state assistance. Initiative 1163 requires annual independent audits conducted by the state auditor.
Thousands of Medicaid-eligible low-income seniors and people with disabilities who qualify for expensive nursing home care voluntarily choose to remain in their own homes. It allows them to stay connected to their families and communities, while saving taxpayers millions. These vulnerable people deserve safe, quality care that preserves their health, their sense of independence and their dignity. That is what Initiative 1163 is about.
Dr. Marty Levine, a family physician and geriatrician from Seattle, wrote this on behalf of a coalition of medical professionals, public safety officials, advocates for the elderly and labor organizations supporting I-1163.
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