Next year, California’s controversial and extraordinarily expensive reimbursement system for skilled nursing facilities – known as AB 1629 – will sunset. Reauthorizing AB 1629 offers a rare chance to redesign the failed reimbursement system to serve residents’ interests.

Instead of improved resident care, AB 1629 has produced billionaire owners, scandalous abuse and neglect, rampant discrimination against Medi-Cal beneficiaries and over a billion dollars per year in new General Fund costs while home and community-based services faced relentless cuts.

It is time to start over and create a reimbursement system that does not rely on blind trust with California’s disreputable nursing home chains. CANHR has issued a report, “Bad Deal, Bad Care,” to explain the problems with AB 1629 and to list the reforms available to the state to ensure that nursing home reimbursement is finally tied to quality care and fits properly into a long term care system that maximizes consumer well-being.