State would give rest homes ratings aged

House panel ignores mobile billboard

The truck didn't do the trick.

North Carolina's adult-care industry hired a truck to drive around the General Assembly building Wednesday with a billboard complaining, "No help for our grandparents."

That's what the N.C. Association of Long Term Care Facilities says lawmakers have done for rest home residents by failing to increase state support for the industry. The group, which lobbies for adult care and rest homes, aimed to make the case that assisted living centers get too little money from the state and too much grief in the form of oversight and regulation.

But even as the billboard circled -- with plans to stop by legislators' favorite eating spots Wednesday night -- a House committee approved an industry-opposed bill that would add even more scrutiny: a rating system to help the public gauge the quality of care in homes.

"We'll have to bring the truck back," said Lou Wilson, lobbyist for the group, after the vote.

Advocates for older people, however, were pleased with the bill's advance in the House Aging Committee. Raleigh activist Polly Williams said state advocates have long wanted an easy way to find out which care homes are good and which are bad.

"This bill went through a number of trials and came through in excellent shape," Williams said.

Although the bill originally established a five-star rating system similar to the one for child- care centers, the house committee removed the stars after negotiations in a subcommittee headed by Rep. Jennifer Weiss, a Cary Democrat. Now the bill says the state's Medical Care Commission would set minimum standards and work out details of the ratings.

"That makes no difference," Wilson said about the omission of the stars from the ratings bill.

In addition to setting up the ratings, the legislation directs state officials to study whether other industries, such as in-home care services, should also be rated. And it calls for a study to determine whether high-performing homes should get more money and low-performing homes more support.

"It rewards facilities for work well done and it allows the most important thing we've talked about -- some public disclosure," said Rep. Debbie Clary, a Cherryville Republican and a committee member who supported the bill.

Representatives of the adult-care home industry, which owns and operates assisted living facilities and rest homes, have objected to the bill since Rep. Alice Bordsen, a Mebane Democrat, introduced it in February.

"I think it's grossly unfair," said Wilson, the lobbyist, "and we will work with the [House] appropriations committee to either everybody in it or take us out."

Wilson said her industry favors public disclosure, but wants any rating system to also apply to other industries that work with older North Carolinians and people with disabilities.

Weiss said she was aware of the industry's objections, but argued that the state was far better equipped to rate adult care homes now than it is to assess other industries.

Ryan Teague Beckwith contributed to this report.