Summary
Julie Simpkins, Gardant Co-President, had the opportunity last week to testify during the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging hearing on “Assisted Living Facilities: Understanding Long-Term Care Options for Older Adults.”
Julie Simpkins, Gardant Co-President, had the opportunity last week to testify during the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging hearing on “Assisted Living Facilities: Understanding Long-Term Care Options for Older Adults.”
Simpkins spoke about Gardant’s model of developing and operating affordable assisted living communities that are designed to primarily serve low-income income older adults who rely on Medicaid-waiver programs. The communities are located throughout Illinois and Indiana and serve approximately 6,000 low-income older adults.
The overwhelming majority of assisted living residents and their families benefit from having a life-affirming, safe experience, Simpkins said.
She emphasized that efforts to “standardize assisted living at the national level would be both unworkable and irresponsible” as “every state, every community and every resident is different”.
It is critical that policies and regulations help protect residents as well as help them maintain their freedom of movement and their independence.
The recent reports of resident elopement are heartbreaking, Simpkins said, but extremely rare.
We support efforts to make assisted living more affordable. Our ability to develop and operate affordable assisted living communities is highly contingent on the individual state’s Medicaid waiver program, reimbursement rates, and number of Medicaid waiver slots that are available.
Different models are required, Simpkins said. For instance, HUD loans and tax-credit financing have been needed to develop many of the affordable assisted living communities Gardant operates.
With the rapidly growing older adult population, we need public-private partnerships to incentivize more providers to develop these different models.
We need support for expanding more long-term care options, for workforce programs, and to address the growing caregiving shortage.
We need collaboration “to develop comprehensive solutions that will ensure the ability of assisted living communities to continue doing what we do best, which is providing safe, quality care to residents.”
From my more than 30 years of experience, one-size-fits-all federal regulations are not the answer.
To view the whole hearing please click here.
