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The state legislature is considering a bill that would require more transparency from skilled nursing facilities on their corporate structure and finances.
Under Senate Bill 650, nursing home owners would have to disclose the finances of all entities under their umbrella that provide services to those facilities.
State Senator Henry Stern, who represents parts of L.A. and Ventura counties, introduced the bill in February. He says the largest operators shuffle billions of dollars in insurance payments among organizations that are under their management, and the state doesn't know if they're using all that money to provide services to patients.
Blanca Castro with AARP California says the bill could shed some light on why thousands of people ended up dying from COVID-19 in California nursing homes.
"If it wasn't spent on increasing the number of staff, and if it wasn't spent on providing masks and gloves and gowns and shields so that you weren't using the same gloves when you were going in between residents — what was it spent on? And that's what we're asking with SB 650," Castro said.
The state Senate passed the bill in early June. The Assembly's health committee will hold a hearing on it on Tuesday.
