The Commission to Study Difficult to place Patients convened the first meeting on Monday October 26th. Governor appointments to the commission include; Jeff Austin, Melvin Clarrage, Richard Erb, Brenda Gallant, Michael Lemieux, Simone Maline, Kim Moody, and DHHS designee Ricker Hamilton. Chairing the commission are Senator Roger Katz and Representative Drew Gattine along with appointed legislators Representative Richard Malaby and Representative Peter Stuckey. Senator Ann Haskell is also a member of the study but was not present for the first meeting.
As outlined in LD 155, the commission is tasked to study the issues and possible policy changes to long-term care for patient with complex medical conditions. The study will undertake to identify the major categories of complex medical conditions, address the barriers to provide efficient placement in an appropriate medical facility, and recommend policy changes that would result in increasing the availability of Maine based residential care and long term care options to provide required specialized services.
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The commission panel members advised that to treat these complex medical conditions that additional services are required such as; additional lifting equipment for bariatric patients, specialized nursing care for ventilator dependent patients, and additional housing requirement to deliver necessary geropsychiatric services. The current long term and residential care facilities are not currently equipped to handle the physical and mental health needs of these types of patients so the placement of patients becomes a barrier to get necessary medical