An Act Establishing An Alzheimer's Disease And Dementia Task Force, Requiring Health Insurance Coverage For Biomarker Testing And Concerning Transfers And Discharges In Residential Care Homes, Tuition Waivers For Nursing Home Residents Who Take Courses At Regional Community-technical Colleges And Closures And Evacuations Of Residential Care Homes And Nursing Homes.
HB 6771 is a broad health and long-term care bill that combines several related policy changes. It creates an Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia Task Force to study the needs of people living with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, assess available services and provider capacity, and develop a State Alzheimer’s Plan with recommendations on care, caregiver support, public awareness, research, safety, and legal protections. The task force must include state officials, providers, caregivers, and a person living with early-stage or early-onset disease, and it must report annually and update the plan every four years.
The bill also expands insurance coverage for biomarker testing beginning January 1, 2026. Both individual and group health insurance policies covered by the bill must cover biomarker testing when it has clinical utility for diagnosis, treatment, management, or monitoring, based on FDA approval or labeling, Medicare coverage determinations, or nationally recognized clinical practice guidelines. The bill requires insurers to maintain a clear process for coverage exceptions and utilization review disputes, and it sets deadlines for prior authorization decisions, including a 72-hour turnaround for urgent requests.
In the long-term care area, the bill strengthens background screening requirements for employees, contractors, and certain volunteers in long-term care facilities, including nursing homes, residential care homes, home health agencies, hospice agencies, assisted living services agencies, and related providers. It revises rules for involuntary transfers and discharges from residential care homes, adding notice requirements, appeal procedures, Ombudsman reporting, and protections for residents, including a prohibition on involuntary transfer or discharge when it would present imminent danger of death to the resident. It also requires electronic reporting of involuntary transfers and discharges to the State Ombudsman portal.
The bill further expands tuition waivers at regional community-technical colleges to include residents of nursing homes who have lived there at least 30 days, subject to space availability, and it preserves existing waivers for veterans, National Guard members, and certain family members of public safety and military casualties. It directs the State Ombudsman, with the Public Health and Social Services commissioners, to convene a working group on residential care home evacuation procedures and possible participation in a mutual aid digital platform, and it revises nursing home admission rules to give priority to certain residents displaced by closures or related circumstances.
Overall, the bill appears to have broad bipartisan support, as reflected in unanimous or near-unanimous committee and floor votes in the House and Senate. The main areas of policy sensitivity are the insurance mandate for biomarker testing, which affects utilization review and coverage costs, and the long-term care provisions, which impose additional compliance, reporting, and resident-protection requirements on facilities. The transfer and discharge rules also suggest concern about resident rights and emergency handling in residential care settings.
The bill amends multiple sections of the general statutes governing long-term care facilities, residential care homes, nursing homes, insurance coverage, and higher education tuition waivers. It creates new statutory duties for the Department of Public Health, insurers, the State Ombudsman, and the State Ombudsman’s reporting portal, while also revising resident transfer/discharge procedures and background-check obligations for long-term care providers. The bill expands eligibility for tuition waivers at regional community-technical colleges and adds a new working-group/reporting requirement on evacuation and mutual-aid planning for residential care homes.
The legislative record shows strong support for the bill, with favorable committee votes and unanimous or near-unanimous passage in both chambers. The broad package of Alzheimer’s, dementia, insurance, and long-term care provisions appears to have been viewed as a public-health and resident-protection measure with wide appeal. The small number of no votes in committee and on the House floor suggests limited opposition rather than major controversy.
The most notable points of contention are likely to have centered on the biomarker testing mandate and the expanded regulatory requirements for long-term care facilities. Insurers may have concerns about coverage costs, prior authorization timelines, and the scope of tests covered, while facilities may view the revised background-check, transfer/discharge, and reporting rules as administratively burdensome. Resident advocates, by contrast, would likely support the stronger notice, appeal, and Ombudsman protections, especially for involuntary discharges and emergency transfers.