HOUSE BILL NO. 6236

September 16, 2020, Introduced by Reps. Kahle, Leutheuser, Kuppa, Crawford, Bollin and Yaroch and referred to the Committee on Families, Children, and Seniors.

A bill to amend 1981 PA 180, entitled

"Older Michiganians act,"

(MCL 400.581 to 400.594) by adding section 6l.

the people of the state of michigan enact:

Sec. 6l. (1) The office must develop and implement a pilot program relating to connecting with older persons. The purpose of the pilot program is to allow an older person to sign up to receive a daily automated call checking on the older person's well-being and possible conversation with an individual.

(2) To be eligible to receive a call under the pilot program, all of the following apply:

(a) The individual must be an older person who is 60 years of age or older.

(b) The individual must be a resident of this state.

(c) The individual must provide a valid telephone number, either a landline or mobile number.

(d) The individual must sign up to receive daily calls.

(e) The individual must consent to waive liability for damages or injuries resulting from ordinary negligence of the department, its employees, or its agencies while participating in the program implemented under this section.

(3) In developing the pilot program, the office must do all of the following:

(a) Provide a toll-free telephone number for an older person to call to sign up for the pilot program.

(b) Provide an online option for signing up for the pilot program.

(c) Give the older person an option to provide an alternate contact.

(d) Establish a time frame in which automated calls must be made to the older person. At the time an older person signs up for the pilot program, the older person shall designate a time at which he or she would like to receive the call.

(e) Give the older person an option to temporarily discontinue receiving calls while remaining in the pilot program.

(f) Give the older person the option to end his or her participation in the pilot program at any time.

(4) The pilot program developed under this section must be implemented as follows:

(a) Three automated call attempts will be made to contact the older person who is signed up for the program. If the older person responds to the automated call, he or she has the following options:

(i) Confirm that he or she is okay.

(ii) Ask to be transferred to learn more about aging services in his or her area.

(iii) Connect with a person for a conversation.

(b) If the older person does not respond after 3 automated call attempts, 1 or more of the following will occur:

(i) A live call will be made to contact the alternate contact if the older person provides one.

(ii) A live call will be placed to the older person and the alternate contact, if previous contacts fail.

(iii) Local nonemergency services will be contacted if all of the previous call attempts fail.

(5) If the older person asks to be transferred to learn more about aging services in his or her area or connects with a person for conversation, the older person must be transferred to a volunteer. The department may use volunteers engaged by the local area agency on aging or through the department's community resource program.

(6) The department must provide the volunteers with a list of topics to discuss with the older person and a list of contact information for different resources if the older person requests additional information.