The Illinois Senate has passed legislation sponsored by State Senator Tom Bennett that updates requirements for assisted living facilities, to help individuals who require sliding scale insulin treatments.

“I believe this is a common-sense change that can make a real difference in terms of access to care for some individuals,” said Bennett. “I want to make sure that people who need to reside in an assisted living facility, have access to those facilities.”

Under current law, people aren’t allowed to be accepted for residency in an assisted living facility if that person requires sliding scale insulin treatment, unless those treatments can be self-performed or administered by a licensed health care professional. This is a particular issue because many individuals are unable to self-administer the treatments. Due to the second requirement, those patients are required to find private duty licensed healthcare professionals, even if the assisted living facilities have nurses on staff that are able to administer the treatments. If they can’t find or afford the private duty professional, they are not allowed to live in an assisted living facility.

House Bill 3172 removes that requirement, allowing individuals who require sliding scale insulin treatments to be accepted into assisted living facilities.

In addition, Senator Bennett was able to pass another healthcare-related bill, House Bill 2855. This legislation updates statutes governing the Lyme Disease Task Force, clarifying that veterinarians appointed to the task force must be practicing veterinarians.

Both bills now await the signature of the Governor to become law.

94.1 WGFA