This past week, bills have been submitted to the Illinois House (HB6304) and Senate (SB2610) that would create a new type of license for Misericordia.
This new license would recognize Misericordia’s unique ability to provide the full continuum of care to individuals with developmental disabilities. Unlike any other provider in the State, Misericordia provides a full range of residential options, including homes on campus (for example, the Marian Center and Village homes), a community living facility on campus (Shannon Apartments), off-campus community homes (the ten CILAs), and McCauley for our medically fragile residents.
In addition, Misericordia offers a complete range of vocational options from developmental training, to on-campus compensated employment, to off-campus supported employment. This full range of residential and vocational options allows Misericordia to better meet the unique needs of each individual resident. It also allows us to continue to meet the individual’s needs as they change over time. Misericordia’s complete set of services saves the State a substantial amount of money. As but one example, when a resident is hospitalized, he or she can often be discharged to McCauley for post-hospitalization care, rather than admitted to a rehabilitation facility or nursing home. This saves the State hundreds of dollars per day.
Currently, the licensing structure in Illinois does not recognize a facility like Misericordia. Instead, it establishes several discrete categories of licenses; ICFs, CILAs, CLFs, skilled nursing facilities. Each home at Misericordia must be separately licensed according to its particular designation. Under the proposed legislation, Misericordia would hold a single license, a continuum of care license, that would recognize that Misericordia offers all of these different residential and vocational options.
Obtaining this new license will make it easier for Misericordia to move its residents among the different settings as their needs change. Already, a number of our residents who lived in an off-campus CILA had to be brought back to the campus as their skills declined due to illness or advancing age. On the other hand, many residents have moved to different homes on the campus or to a CILA as they developed new skills and independence. However, because each home has a separate license, transfers are more difficult and time consuming. Permission must be obtained from the State for many of the transfers. Such regulatory approvals always take time. The new license should streamline these moves and therefore greatly benefit our family members.
What Can You Do to Support this Legislation?
The sponsor of the bill in the House is Rep. Jim Durkin. Our sponsors in the Senate are Sen. John Mulroe and Sen. Michael Connelly. All are very good friends of Misericordia and we appreciate their support for this important legislation. It is likely that more sponsors will be added. As these bills advance in the House and Senate, we will be asking you to contact your representative and senator and ask them to vote in favor of the bill. In the meantime, it is important for you to know who your state representative and senator are. In every Sunday Announcements, Pam and Jim Capraro publish a link to the Illinois Board of Elections. At that site, all you need to do is plug in your home address and the site will identify your representative and senator. In addition, in each Sunday Announcements, Kevin Connelly lists the representatives and senators who have taken a tour of Misericordia. If your representative or senator is not on that list, please invite them for a tour. There is no better way to show them the complete range of services that Misericordia provides and why this new license so important, than to have them see Misericordia for themselves. And you can promise them some fresh baked goodies from our bakery.
I will keep you posted on the progress of the legislation. Below are links to the House and Senate bills if you want to review their actual language.
As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
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