Funding Stability Best Means To Protect America's Most Vulnerable Frail, Elderly & Disabled

Main Category: Caregivers / Homecare
Also Included In: Seniors / Aging
Article Date: 15 May 2007 - 1:00 PDT

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Several hundred long term care leaders from every region of the nation are on Capitol Hill today advocating before U.S. Senate and House lawmakers to let them know that long term care funding stability is a primary prerequisite for continued improvements in nursing home care quality, and that the safety net programs our nation's most vulnerable population of seniors and disabled citizens depend upon are protected, defended and preserved.

"Protecting, defending and preserving the financial stability of America's key safety net programs in the decades ahead is vital to the well being of our most vulnerable population of seniors and disabled citizens," stated Bruce Yarwood, President and CEO of the American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL), which is hosting its 25th annual congressional gathering. "Our message to Congress is that the long term care sector's funding stability is central to sustaining the care quality improvements we are working together to achieve," he said.

Noting many state governments are moving forward with their own health care reform plans independent of the federal government, Yarwood stressed the need for establishing cooperation not just between state and federal lawmakers, but between state and federal regulators and the entire provider community caring for a diverse, increasingly older, high ambulatory population. The average nursing home resident, he said, is an 85-year old female with significant cognitive or functional impairments, and who typically requires nearly ten medications daily.

"Whether we are working with the Administration on initiatives such as the Nursing Home Quality Initiative (NHQI) and the Advancing Excellence in America's Nursing Homes campaign to enhance care quality or with Congress to preserve vital funding for seniors' essential long term care services, our membership is cognizant that establishing a culture of cooperation between all stakeholders is the best way to guarantee our mutual, collective success," the AHCA President and CEO continued.

Other items to be discussed between Members of Congress and the state long term care leaders include fostering an environment of ongoing quality improvement by improving the current survey and certification process, encouraging further investment in Health information Technology (HIT), addressing long term care workforce shortages, and modernizing Medicare and Medicaid payment policies.

Rick Carter, President and CEO of Care Providers of Minnesota, said, "Protecting the funding integrity of Medicare and Medicaid is essential to the millions of beneficiaries who receive care in Minnesota and the nation's skilled nursing homes each year, and to the hundreds of thousands of staff who provide patients with quality care. Long term care facilities are vital to so many of Minnesota's rural communities -- as is the case throughout rural America -- and we want lawmakers to hear first hand our concerns in regard to key funding issues , and how they clearly affect our quality improvement agenda."

Stuart H. Shapiro, M.D., President and CEO of the Pennsylvania Health Care Association (PHCA), said, "Considering the fact almost eighty percent of Pennsylvanians' long term care costs are funded by Medicare and Medicaid, it is more essential than ever for federal and state lawmakers to work together in a successful, bipartisan way to protect America's greatest generation.

"Senators Specter, Casey and the Commonwealth's congressional delegation well understand the growing interdependence between the federal and state government on a variety of key healthcare policy issues, and we intend to thank them for their willingness to gather information with which to make well-informed decisions related to protecting our seniors' vital safety net programs."

James Gomez, President of the California Association of Health Facilities (CAHF), stated, "The adequate supply of qualified caregivers - including registered nurses (RNs) and certified nursing assistants (CNAs) - is integral to the ongoing provision of quality care, and we urgently need Congress to take action to ensure that long term care has a supply of well-trained caregivers to provide quality care at the bedside." He further noted that, "For this reason, we ask Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform as well as to reauthorize and fund the Nurse Reinvestment Act to address health care's current workforce crisis."

The American Health Care Association and the National Center For Assisted Living are the nation's leading long term care organizations. AHCA/NCAL and their membership are committed to performance excellence and Quality First, a covenant for healthy, affordable and ethical long term care. AHCA/NCAL represent more than 10,000 non-profit and proprietary facilities dedicated to continuous improvement in the delivery of professional and compassionate care provided daily to more than 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.

www.ahca.org

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