The Virginia Assisted Living Association (VALA) recognizes the severe shortage that exists of licensed preceptors and available training facilities for individuals to become an assisted living facilities (ALF) administrator in training (AIT). We appreciate Virginia ensuring an ALF AIT receives sufficient training and experiences, but we do not support excluding all smaller providers from serving as training facilities, especially if they are part of operations that manage several ALFs. ALFs with a resident capacity of less than 20 residents equate to 27% of the total number of licensed ALFs. 18VAC95-30-170-B-4 creates an undue burden and discriminates against smaller assisted living providers significantly restricting business operations and training opportunities. This regulation can also restrict available housing options for seniors if the smaller ALFs are not able to recruit or train administrators to oversee the operation, then the ALF will be forced to close due to its inability to comply with regulations.

In looking at VDSS regulations and the allowance of shared administrators for smaller facilities, the recommendation of the petitioner is not unprecedented. Training at multiple affiliated ALFs gives the AIT a variety of experiences without creating an undue financial and employment burden on the provider.

With the decrease in available workforce and the increase in employment competition, it is crucial for the continued existence and operation of smaller assisted living communities to be able to train staff onsite, including administrators. The regulation creates an unfair advantage of larger assisted living facilities to recruit, train, and retain staff. The current regulation also denies employees of smaller ALFs the opportunity to get onsite training that would be specific to their employer. With the current exclusion, small providers must send the employee offsite to a location which may not be close to their home and/or work. The impact on the smaller providers is the loss of workforce while the employee is offsite training at a larger facility, as well as a substantial fiscal impact of having to pay the larger facility for conducting the training while still paying the employee’s compensation. The smaller provider must also be aware of the risk in the larger facility hiring the AIT resulting in another burden to fill the position again.

Thank you for considering these concerns. We welcome the opportunity to continue to work with the Board of Long-Term Care Administrators to amend the regulations to best serve the industry including the residents, the employees, and the operators. Please let us know if you have any questions about these comments.