WHCA/WiCAL staff recently met with DHS Bureau of Assisted Living (BAL) staff for a regularly scheduled meeting to discuss matters of importance to Wisconsin’s assisted living provider community.

Attending on behalf of BAL were Dan Perron, Bureau Director, and Kathy Lyons, Bureau Deputy Director. Attending on behalf of WHCA/WiCAL were CEO Rick Abrams and VP of Government Relations and Regulatory Affairs Jim Stoa.

Perron discussed complaint statistics for AL providers in 2022 compared to 2021. As of November 28, 2022, the state had received 2041 total complaints specific to assisted living. That compares to 1920 complaints for 2021. This data excludes self reports. Perron noted that while the raw number of complaints has increased in 2022 over 2021, the percentage of substantiated complaints has dropped. In 2021, about 30% of all complaints were substantiated. As of November 28, 2022, about 20% of complaints this year have been substantiated.

Perron also noted that BAL’s issuance of ‘No New Admit Orders’ to AL providers has jumped since last year, with 82 total orders in 2021 and 127 as of the end of November 2022.

Also joining the call was DHS Policy Initiatives Advisor, Pat Benesh. Benesh told those on the call that the initial DHS draft of revisions to Chapter 88 is nearing completion and will be availble for public review in the near future. DHS annoucned earlier this year its renewed efforts to revise Ch. 88, which has not been updated since its initial publication in the mid-90s. Benesh said it is her expectation that the draft for Ch. 88 will be available in January 2023 with opportunities for public input thereafter.

Perron and Lyons walked through survey citation trends in AL settings as well. Please see below for a full breakdown of top citations across CBRF, RCAC, and AFH settings. The data tables include 2022 as well as 2021 data.

CBRF:

AFH:

RCAC: