I am a resident at The Residences at Vantage Point (RVP), a CCRC in Columbia, MD. In MD, the MD Department of Health (Office of Health Care Quality) is the agency charged with monitoring the quality of care within health care facilities (comprehensive nursing care, assisted living and memory care), while the Department of Aging has responsibilities for residents in independent living. The regulations addressing the rights of independent-living residents are contained within at least 16 different State statutes. The Statutes are of course written in legalese and for most of us are difficult to understand. We have suggested to our State MaCCRA that a synopsis of these regulations in plain English would be desirable. The NaCCRA website does contain a model bill of rights. We know of at least seven other state that have enacted legislation focusing on these issues.
We have a group here at RVP working on developing a stronger and more understandable bill of rights. We anticipate that in January there will be a bill introduced in the 2024 MD General Assembly that will st least partially address these issues. The propose legislation contains improvements in the regulations for return of entry fees, grievance procedures and resident representation on Corporate Board of Directors and like bodies.
Frederick W. (Rick) Kutz, Ph.D.
5400 Vantage Point Road, Apt. 113
Columbia, MD 21044
443-878-4141