Connecticut lawmakers passed legislation earlier this year on nursing home reforms that includes lowering the minimum of beds to social worker ratio from 120/1 to 60/1. It requires the state’s Department of Public Health to issue the new regulation by Jan. 1, 2022.
The NASW Connecticut Chapter first introduced a bill on this issue in 2008, said Chapter Executive Director Stephen A. Wanczyk-Karp, LMSW. Initially, the bill only sought that the social worker/bed ratio had to be lowered. “Through continual lobbying and mobilization of members, we got the specific ratio into the bill,” Wanczyk-Karp said.