Targeting 2.7 Billion Dollars Medicare Cuts, Ad Effort Urges Lawmakers To Stand Up For Quality Nursing Home Care, USA

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Also Included In: Nursing / Midwifery
Article Date: 29 Aug 2007 - 1:00 PDT

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In response to the 2.7 billion dollars cuts to Medicare that were passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in the Children's Health and Medicare Protection Act (CHAMP Act), the long term care provider community today initiated an aggressive TV and print campaign in Congressional districts across the country. The campaign warns that proposed cuts will jeopardize ongoing quality improvements in America's nursing homes, threaten thousands of local health care jobs, and irrationally return Medicare funding levels to those seen almost a decade ago.

"The long term care profession strongly supports expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). However, this support should not be funded by raiding the Medicare funding that vulnerable seniors depend upon for quality nursing home care in facilities across the nation," warned Alan Rosenbloom, President of the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care ("the Alliance"). The Alliance is funding the ad campaign in conjunction with the American Health Care Association (AHCA). "Nursing homes have achieved significant quality improvements in recent years. Through this ad campaign, we are ensuring that lawmakers understand the House-passed SCHIP expansion plan would undermine and even reverse those quality improvements. This law would harm not only the 1.7 million Americans who rely on quality nursing home care, but also the hundreds of thousands of dedicated caregivers around the country who provide care and services."

"These are the wrong cuts, at the wrong time, directed at the wrong population of vulnerable citizens," said Bruce Yarwood, President and CEO of AHCA. "The overriding lesson of the past ten years is that when Medicare funding for skilled nursing services is stable, quality of care and services improves. When Medicare funding is cut drastically in the manner passed by the U.S. House, our nation's long term care infrastructure deteriorates - to the detriment of the 'Greatest Generation' and all future retirees. While we support the broader objective of expanding children's health insurance, it is irresponsible and unnecessary for the CHAMP Act to include major Medicare cuts to the care for our seniors."

Yarwood also pointed to the fact that skilled nursing facilities unfairly bear the brunt of Medicare provider cuts contained within the CHAMP Act. He stated that, "the CHAMP Act calls for nursing homes to absorb 25 percent of the cuts to Medicare Parts A & B. This is entirely inappropriate and disproportionate with the fact that nursing facilities only receive seven percent of such funding."

The advertising effort will air in the markets associated with the following Democratic lawmakers: Arizona: Rep. Harry Mitchell; California: Rep. Jerry McNerney; Connecticut: Reps. Joe Courtney, Chris Murphy; Florida: Reps. Tim Mahoney, Ron Klein; Georgia: Reps. Jim Marshall, John Barrow; Indiana: Reps. Joe Donnelly, Baron Hill; Kansas: Rep. Nancy Boyda; Minnesota: Rep. Tim Walz; New Hampshire: Reps. Paul Hodes, Carol Shea-Porter; New York: Reps. John Hall, Kirsten Gillebrand, Mike Arcuri; Ohio: Rep. Zack Space; Pennsylvania: Reps. Jason Altmire, Joe Sestak, Patrick Murphy; Wisconsin: Rep. Steven Kagen.

The text of the 30 second TV spot running in selected markets in conjunction with the print ad is as follows:

Why?... would politicians in Washington vote to cut Medicare for our most vulnerable seniors?... cutting $2.7 billion in vital funds for skilled nursing care. It's wrong. Slashing billions will jeopardize quality, threaten thousands of health care jobs, and return Medicare funding to levels of almost a decade ago. Call Congressman [Name], tell him to stop the cuts, and to stand up for the quality skilled nursing care [State]'s seniors need. Time is running out.

An AHCA analysis of Congressional Budget Office (CBO) data completed immediately prior to the August congressional recess finds that beneficiaries and providers in Florida, New York, California, Texas and Ohio will suffer 33.1% of the total Medicare Part A cuts ($895 million) over five years. The sequential level of state-specific cuts over five years are as follows: Florida -- $205 Million; New York -- $184 Million; California -- $183 Million; Texas -- $168 Million; Ohio --$155 Million; Illinois -- $147 Million; Pennsylvania -- $140 Million; New Jersey -- $102 Million; Michigan -- $101 Million; Indiana -- $88 Million.

Rosenbloom and Yarwood also noted the Medicare cuts are being proposed after a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) study found that from 2000 to 2005 - a period during which Medicare payments to the nation's nursing homes stabilized - the number of facilities with serious deficiencies declined nearly 40%. Equally important, nursing homes have improved care in several key clinical areas during this time period. Adequate government funding, the long term care leaders said, is crucial to maintaining such improvements and strengthening America's long term care infrastructure, since nearly 80 percent of nursing home patients are covered by Medicare or Medicaid.

The two long term care leaders also pointed out that while the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recognizes that the long term care sector faces dramatic increases in labor, energy, liability and capital costs, the House-passed legislation inexplicably ignores these fundamental economic realities.

Prior to this new advertising effort, AHCA and the Alliance were two of several health care and consumer organizations that funded a separate national advertising effort exclusively in support of efforts to reauthorize SCHIP. Other members of this coalition, known as Americans for Children's Health, include Families USA, the American Medical Association, the Federation of American Hospitals and PhRMA.

The Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care is a coalition of 16 national skilled nursing providers that deliver care to hundreds of thousands of patients each day at roughly 2,000 skilled nursing facilities in 49 states and the District of Columbia.

http://www.aqnhc.org

The American Health Care Association represents nearly 11,000 non-profit and proprietary facilities dedicated to continuous improvement in the delivery of professional and compassionate care provided daily by millions of caring employees to 1.5 million of our nation's frail, elderly and disabled citizens who live in nursing facilities, assisted living residences, subacute centers and homes for persons with mental retardation and developmental disabilities.

http://www.ahca.org