IT'S NOW OFFICIAL. THE ALF RULE AMENDMENTS HAVE BEEN POSTPONED

This is NOT THE OMBUDSMAN RULES. THIS IS ALF RULES

THIS IS THE ASSISTED LIVING FACILITY RULES THAT HAVE BEEN WORKED ON FOR A VERY LONG TIME. Many stakeholder groups have had input and much work and many steps have taken place to get them ready for public comment. Genny and I worked on them with HHSC and other stakeholders early in the process. Last week, the Texas Assisted Living Association announced the rules were on hold. That was news to us. HHSC had not said a word about it.

Well, apparently it was true.

LAST WEEK THE TEXAS ASSISTED LIVING NEWSLETTER SAID IN THEIR FEBRUARY 22ND NEWSLETTER

"TALA submitted over 120 comments on behalf of our TALA members and the greater senior living sector." . . . "Because of the volume of comments received, the LTCR team has temporarily paused the project while staff works through suggestions, requests clarification, and remedies conflicts." . . . and also said "Because the project will miss the originally planned implementation deadline, the agency team will have to repeat several steps, and everyone will have another opportunity to read through and make comments during a second formal comment period this summer."

So we had TALA announcing the postponement of the ALF rules almost a full week ahead of Texas HHSC who did finally announce a little while ago.

THE OFFICIAL TEXAS HHSC ANNOUNCMENT SAYS

"On March 1, 2024, as a result of stakeholder feedback, HHSC Long-term Care Regulation withdrew the proposed amendments to 26 Texas Administrative Code, Chapter 553 Licensing Standards for Assisted Living Facilities, which appeared in the Dec. 22, 2023, issue of the Texas Register (48 TexReg 7759). Texas Register March 1, 2024.

HHSC anticipates to re-submit the proposed amendments to the Texas Register for formal public comment in late 2024."

Postponement of the amendments to the rules does not mean cancellation so our group will still be here to review proposed amendments in late 2024 and I hope we can form a mini-task force at that time to do a more thorough evaluation of them.

We are Texas Caregivers for Compromise and we are #notgoingaway!