The Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Special Committeeon Aging will hear arguments both for and against the Fairness in Nursing HomeArbitration Act this Wednesday.

The joint committee will meet at 10:30am in the SenateDirksen Office Building to discuss the pros and cons of prohibiting arbitrationagreements as a prerequisite to nursing home admission. Many nursing home andhealthcare agencies worry that, without arbitration clauses, Medicaid moneycould end up being spent on legal fees and settlements instead of treatment andquality improvement. Arbitration opponents argue that the practice is unfair andstrips the elderly of their right to a trial. 

Among those testifying: AlisonHirschel, president of the National Citizen’s Coalition for Nursing HomeReform; Kelley C. Rice-Schild, executive director of the Floridian Nursing& Rehabilitation Center; lawyer Ken Connor; and law professor Stephen J.Ware. Aging Committee Chairman Herb Kohl (D-WI) will preside over the hearing.