The State - News from June 18, 1986

Health officials are sending terminal AIDS patients to expensive state acute-care hospitals because California’s 1,200 nursing homes are refusing to admit them. Sacramento physician Dr. Donald ReVille, president of the American Medical Directors Assn., said, “It would be a very rare facility that would have an AIDS patient at the present time.” The group represents medical directors of nursing homes. “We know it’s going to be a major (national) problem in the future and it’s going to impact the skilled-nursing segment of our population,” ReVille added. State Health Director Ken Kizer said his office is “looking at many other levels of care, whether it’s hospice or intermediate care. We’re plowing new ground. I wouldn’t be surprised if we end up with a new licensing category.”