Medicare-funded nursing homes will be affected by the pending health reform bill: Maine Health Care Association

Sep 14 2009

The following is a statement by the American Health Care Association (AHCA):

As Congress reconvened this week in the wake of polls finding the public strongly against slashing Medicare-funded nursing home care to pay for health care reform, local opposition to proposed $32 billion ten year Medicare cuts is garnering a rising level of local press coverage.

The 9/10 Bangor (ME) Daily News reports, “Maine nursing homes stand to lose as much as $252 million in Medicare funding over the next 10 years, a combination of recently implemented reimbursement changes and new ones proposed in the national health reform legislation taking shape in Congress… A Senate health reform bill has not yet been released. But HR 3200, the legislation still under revision in the U.S. House of Representatives, includes $32 billion in funding reductions to nursing facilities nationwide over the next 10 years. In addition, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently implemented a funding freeze for some nursing home services that will further reduce payments by $12 million over the next 10 years.

“The combination could be devastating to nursing homes, advocates say. “The bottom line is that Maine seniors’ Medicare-funded nursing homes will be substantially undermined by the pending health reform bill in the U.S. House of Representatives,” said Rick Erb, president and CEO of the Maine Health Care Association, which represents Maine nursing facilities.

The 9/10 Warwick (RI) Beacon, in a story entitled, “Nursing Homes Say They’ll be Squeezed by Health Reform,” reports: “These proposed Medicare funding reductions will threaten caregiver jobs,” said Kathleen Heren, Rhode Island’s Long-Term Care Ombudsman. “Unfortunately, any job losses would mean fewer staff able to deliver quality care to seniors in our nursing homes. I hope Congress will reconsider these drastic cuts to an important segment of our long term care system.” Should the House Bill pass as it is currently drafted, each nursing home across the country would lose $31 per Medicare patient per day. The average nursing home in Rhode Island has about 10 patients covered by Medicare. That means each nursing home would lose about $110,000 in government funding per year.”

Joan Foradori-Cook, an Administrator of the Good Samaritan Society in Jasonville, IN, writes in the 9/8 Indianapolis (IN) Star: “I am concerned by some health-care reform proposals that would cut Medicare funding for seniors' skilled nursing and rehabilitative care. As the administrator at the Good Samaritan Society-Shakamak Retirement Community, I see first hand how Medicare beneficiaries recover from debilitating illnesses, regain the ability to walk or talk, and become healthy enough to return to their homes and communities through the care this funding provides.

“The America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 proposes to slash Medicare funding nationally for skilled nursing facilities by $32 billion over the next 10 years. These cuts cannot be absorbed by facilities such as mine; they are not in the best interest of quality senior care; and they will impact jobs and wages for caregivers like myself. It is imperative that the Indiana congressional delegation fully considers the long-term care needs of our state's elderly and infirmed citizens.”

The Bismarck (ND) Tribune, in a 9/7 op-ed (Nursing Homes Can’t Afford Cuts) from Shelley Peterson, president of the North Dakota Long Term Care Association, states, “The number one issue for families whose loved ones are in a nursing facility is adequate staffing. The quality of care residents receive relates directly to adequate staffing levels and a trained quality workforce. As 70 percent of nursing home costs are tied to labor, additional Medicare cuts would certainly affect staffing levels and could result in the loss of more than 50,000 jobs nationwide that are essential to maintaining continued quality of care.

“These proposed cuts to nursing home care are highly disproportionate compared to other areas of health care. For example, in the current House bill, providers of skilled nursing care are set to shoulder costs totaling 9.47 percent of total Medicare revenues over the next 10 years, with other healthcare providers far less. These cuts are being imposed even though skilled nursing facilities operate with one of the smallest overall margin among health care providers, at 1.9 percent in North Dakota. Thus cuts at the federal level of this magnitude have a major impact at the community level in terms of patients and jobs. Congress must revise proposals that contain further cuts for nursing home care.”

Source: American Health Care Association