Maryland bills that require skilled nurses to pay and maintain recording equipment in the facility's general spaces have been shot down. However, while operators were very pleased with the outcome, some industry experts wonder if it is a test run that will lead to better efforts in the future.
Providers across the country are keeping an eye on Maryland's efforts as they have surpassed more general debate about families with surveillance cameras in patient rooms.
The provider said if Senate Bill 465 was passed, it presented multiple costly challenges to 216 nursing homes and more than 1,700 assisted living communities in Maryland.
Kevin Heffner, president and CEO of LifeSpan Network, told McKnight's Long-Term Care News on Friday. “Our lobby said this was basically a gateway drug. If we could pass the law in a common space for camera use, the next logical step was to be a resident room. Another equally important issue was to ask the provider to maintain video footage for six months.
The requirement was “unconventional,” Hefner charged, adding that long-term care facilities are also financially responsible for the installation and maintenance of equipment.
Maryland representative and CEO Allison Chiborowski told McKnight on Monday that he was pleased that the bill was blocked, confirming that nursing homes would cost between $50,000 and $200,000 to comply with the law. To store the data and pay the annual maintenance costs, the provider would have been on the hook for an additional $40,000-80,000.
There was no additional funding provided as part of the bill, she said.
Part of the movement
Although it was defeated, the bill had a deliberate history.
One reason for passing Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown's law was a 75-year-old dementia patient who was abused by an elderly nursing assistant in May 2022. There was a camera on the premises, allowing authorities to arrest a nursing assistant and charge him with first-degree assault and vulnerable adult abuse.
The “Grandma Come” bill from other states shares a similar beginning.
In Ohio, Esther's law was passed in 2022 and is named after Esther Piscoll, a state nursing home resident whose abuse was captured by surveillance cameras installed in a room by her son.
This year, Pennsylvania proposed to create its own law after Esther's law, allowing video cameras to be installed in residents' rooms in January.
There are currently 17 states that allow cameras to monitor residents' caregivers.
Not all states that proposed the Granny Cam law have been successful.
For example, in 2020, the Georgia General Assembly blocked a bill that allowed residents to install electronic surveillance equipment in their rooms due to privacy concerns.
In Maryland, this could be the beginning of the Grand Granny Cam battle, Hefner said.
“History tells us that this is basically a trial balloon. They're bringing together Inter,” he speculated. “They find pushback points and know that one of them is a cost. So they're going to try and get the bill back by lowering the financial burden, but I think it's still a defeat.
Cibrowski wouldn't be surprised if the bill was brought to trial again in Maryland. You can also imagine other states taking similar laws.
If Maryland or others allow cameras, she hopes that's the right reason for everything.
“Video can be a powerful tool for social connection. We hope that more technology will be used to connect residents to loved ones in a dignified and respectful way, rather than promoting technology purely for surveillance,” she said.
