State Senator
Saud Anwar
Deputy President Pro Tempore
Working For You
- Representing
- East Hartford,
- Ellington,
- East Windsor,
- South Windsor
Today, State Senator Saud Anwar (D-South Windsor), Senate Chair of the Public Health Committee, led the State Senate in passing legislation that will provide improvements to how hospice care services in Connecticut are administered. Most prominently, the bill will require the establishment of a pilot program to provide in-home hospice care to patients through in-person visits, among other changes.
“Hospice care is an emotional and challenging need for many at the end of their lives, and individuals deserve to have some control over the environment in which they spend their final days,” said Sen. Anwar. “By passing this bill and creating a program for such care to be available, we can provide peace of mind to those individuals and their families. I believe this bill will help ease some of the difficulties faced by many during an already distressing time.”
Senate Bill 1075, “An Act Concerning Hospice and Palliative Care,” would make changes related to the provision of hospice care services including: requiring the Department of Public Health to establish a hospice hospital at home pilot program, providing in-home hospice care through in-person and telehealth visits, by 2024; allowing the Department of Social Services commissioner to apply for a Medicaid Section 1115 waiver to provide Medicaid reimbursement for hospice services delivered under the pilot program to the same level hospital-based hospice services are reimbursed; allowing advanced practice registered nurses providing hospice care through licensed home care agencies to administer fluids or medications intravenously and for registered nurses to do so under physician supervision; requiring certain individual and group health insurance policies to cover in-home hospice services to the same extent of hospital in-patient hospice services.
The bill now heads to the House for further consideration. The bill passed the Public Health Committee by a unanimous vote in March.