While state lawmakers, consumer advocates, and industry leaders hash out a reform bill for Illinois' troubled nursing home industry, Gov. Pat Quinn has unveiled a series of recommendations his office would like to see implemented. The Quinn administration has called for an increase in the minimum staffing levels at nursing homes, requiring that homes provide (by 2014) a minimum of 4.1 hours of care per day for residents who need skilled care and 2.8 hours per day for residents needing intermediate care. He also proposed tougher oversight and higher fines for offenders.

The Health Care Council of Illinois, Illinois' largest nursing home trade group, is opposed to across-the-board staffing requirements. Union officials, however, were pleased with the platform. "Uniform standards for safe staffing are essential," SEIU Healthcare Illinois spokeswoman Brynn Seibert told the AP, "to ensuring that nursing home residents get the care and attention they need and deserve."

Read more of our coverage on the nursing home reform debate here.  (Full disclosure: The SEIU Illinois State Council sponsors this website.)