A new bill could give Arizona assisted living facilities more protection

A new bill signed into law is headed to Governor Katie Hobbs’ desk for her signature giving older Arizonans residing in assisted living facilities more protection.

The bill is aimed at increasing training for memory care services and establishes standard regulations across assisted living facilities. The training will consist of eight hours of preparation for patients with memory disabilities.

The Health Department will create and define the standard regulations likely after the legislative session is over. The public will be able to weigh in on the standards.

The bill will also increase the fine on facilities that endanger residents, which is $1000 a day for each resident who is impacted. The penalties may include various forms of neglect such as forgetting to provide a patient with their medication.

When it comes to the facilities receiving inspections the bill will include annual inspections.

“This actually gives not only the department heads the tools to make sure that they are able to enforce these laws, we’ve seen that sometimes they don’t have the tools available to them, so this is actually putting some rules in place,” said Dana Marie Kennedy, the State Director at Arizona AARP.