New Study Of House Health Reform Bill: Virginia Faces Over $1 Billion In Medicare-Funded Nursing Home Cuts Over Ten Years

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Also Included In: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 24 Aug 2009 - 3:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

A new American Health Care Association analysis of the pending House health reform bill, combined with the impact of a recently-enacted Medicare regulation cutting Medicare-funded nursing home care by $12 billion over ten years, finds seniors in Virginia requiring nursing and rehabilitative care facing total funding cuts of $1 billion over that same time period. This is equivalent to cutting reimbursement by $29.48 per day per Medicare patient in Virginia. Nationally, the study finds, seniors' Medicare cuts will total $44 billion over ten years, prompting Virginia's long term care community to warn that Virginia seniors' care needs are endangered by the House bill, as are the jobs of more than 1,174 caregivers in Virginia alone.

"Virginia seniors' Medicare-funded nursing care will be substantially hurt by the pending health reform bill in the U.S. House of Representatives, and such drastic cuts to nursing home care are an unfair burden to place on our most vulnerable seniors who rely on Medicare for their nursing home care," said Steve Morrisette, President of Virginia Health Care Association. "When Medicare cuts provider reimbursement, providers, in turn, are forced to cut staff because labor expenses comprise 70 percent of facility costs. Cutting staff within a facility has a direct, immediate, negative impact on patients and their care - and that is what the House bill will do."

The new analysis of the House bill's Medicare funding reductions over ten years, combined with the $12 billion ten year Medicare cuts just put into effect by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), is computed by the AHCA Reimbursement and Research Department using the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) score of both HR 3200 and the recent CMS funding rule, along with Medicare Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) utilization data.

In crafting a final bill, Morrisette also urges lawmakers to take into account the fact the Medicaid program already under funds the cost of providing care by at least $44 million, or $12.45 per person per day, in Virginia according to Eljay, LLC, thereby already placing enormous stress on facilities and staff before federal Medicare cuts even enter the picture. "We believe Congress should preserve, protect and defend seniors' Medicare-funded nursing home care, and we respectfully ask lawmakers to do so when Congress reconvenes in September."

Source
The Virginia Health Care Association (VHCA)

• Additional
• References
• Citations