Nursing home cuts decried
Posted: 5/9/2008
Nursing home cuts decried
01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, April 30, 2008
By Jennifer D. Jordan
Journal Staff Writer
Sisters Barbara, left, and Elaine Cenci, of Providence, attend a rally in the State House to voice opposition to proposed budget cuts to nursing home care. At right is Fred Cafaro, of Providence, a volunteer at Elmhurst Extended Care.
The Providence Journal / Connie Grosch
PROVIDENCE — Ninety-four-year-old Marie Baton trekked to the State House yesterday afternoon, possibly the oldest of several hundred advocates for the elderly who rallied to protest proposed cuts to nursing homes.
“I think we need more money, not less,” Baton said as she stood on the rotunda steps clutching a blue and white sign that said, “Save our seniors! No cuts to nursing home care!”
She was one of just two of the 112 residents at the South Kingstown Nursing and Rehabilitation Center who was up to making the trip, said nursing home administrator Clarissa B. Reynolds.
“The proposed cuts, for us, would be devastating,” Reynolds said. “I would have to cut $70,000 from my facility and we would have to cut back on the hours of nursing care we provide. The quality of care would go down.”
In an effort to bridge a projected $385-million deficit for the coming fiscal year, Republican Governor Carcieri has proposed a series of cuts across virtually all areas of state government. Nursing home advocates say that two areas targeted for reduction in their budget are untenable and would result in the loss of matching federal money: delaying payment of an annual inflationary increase and reducing the labor reimbursement that nursing homes receive.
The proposed cuts are now in the hands of the Democratic-led state legislature, which must hash out its own spending plan. “What these cuts mean is that nursing home residents will have to wait a little longer for help,” said Virginia M. Burke, president of the Rhode Island Health Care Association, as hundreds of protesters assembled on the steps of the rotunda and filled the second-floor balcony. “These cuts will have a real human impact.”
Approximately 9,000 Rhode Islanders live in nursing homes.
Under the governor’s spending plan, the state would save $1.9 million of state money by delaying the inflation increase. Nursing home advocates point out that by doing so, the nursing homes would lose an additional $2.1 million in matching Medicaid funds — a net decrease of $4 million. And since the inflationary increase comes one to two years after nursing homes have already paid their bills, the nursing homes are not being reimbursed for money they have already spent, Burke said.
Last year, a similar delay cost Rhode Island nursing homes $7 million, “in money they’ve already spent and will never get back,” Burke said.
The other proposed cut would save the state $2.4 million by lowering the amount that nursing homes are reimbursed for labor costs. Advocates say the nursing homes would lose an equal amount in matching federal money.
One local nursing home would have to lay off 12 percent of its staff in order to break even after the cuts, said Richard Gamache, administrator of the Elmhurst Extended Care Facility.
“When elders call the bell for help, who will be there? Who will help them get to a bathroom or help with meals or soiled sheets,” Gamache asked the cheering crowd. “Is that acceptable to you? These cuts are not only unacceptable — they are insane.”
Earlier in the day, the issue of nursing home spending came up during the Revenue Estimating Conference at the State House.
The news on state savings was mixed.
Budget writers had anticipated a larger dip in the number of people receiving cash aid from the state’s Family Independence Program. While banking on a 13.5-percent drop in the program’s caseload, legislators only got an 8.8-percent decline and spending is running $2.3 million over the $53.6 million for the program in the current-year budget, a shortfall not addressed in the deficit-closing bill passed by the House last week.
However, the state Department of Human Services projects $23.9 million in Medicaid savings — assuming the state takes controversial cost-savings steps, including one that helped ignite yesterday’s protest rally. That move would reduce nursing home reimbursements for labor from 125 percent to 110 percent of the statewide median cost.
Other savings are attributable to a drop in RIte Care enrollments. Department of Human Services expected a drop-off in the state subsidized health-insurance program for families after the state last year required proof of identity and documentation of citizenship. DHS Deputy Director John Young said 5,000 applications were denied for lack of documentation, but that only partially explains the drop-off.
With staff reports from Katherine Gregg.
jjordan@projo.com
01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, April 30, 2008
By Jennifer D. Jordan
Journal Staff Writer
Sisters Barbara, left, and Elaine Cenci, of Providence, attend a rally in the State House to voice opposition to proposed budget cuts to nursing home care. At right is Fred Cafaro, of Providence, a volunteer at Elmhurst Extended Care.
The Providence Journal / Connie Grosch
PROVIDENCE — Ninety-four-year-old Marie Baton trekked to the State House yesterday afternoon, possibly the oldest of several hundred advocates for the elderly who rallied to protest proposed cuts to nursing homes.
“I think we need more money, not less,” Baton said as she stood on the rotunda steps clutching a blue and white sign that said, “Save our seniors! No cuts to nursing home care!”
She was one of just two of the 112 residents at the South Kingstown Nursing and Rehabilitation Center who was up to making the trip, said nursing home administrator Clarissa B. Reynolds.
“The proposed cuts, for us, would be devastating,” Reynolds said. “I would have to cut $70,000 from my facility and we would have to cut back on the hours of nursing care we provide. The quality of care would go down.”
In an effort to bridge a projected $385-million deficit for the coming fiscal year, Republican Governor Carcieri has proposed a series of cuts across virtually all areas of state government. Nursing home advocates say that two areas targeted for reduction in their budget are untenable and would result in the loss of matching federal money: delaying payment of an annual inflationary increase and reducing the labor reimbursement that nursing homes receive.
The proposed cuts are now in the hands of the Democratic-led state legislature, which must hash out its own spending plan. “What these cuts mean is that nursing home residents will have to wait a little longer for help,” said Virginia M. Burke, president of the Rhode Island Health Care Association, as hundreds of protesters assembled on the steps of the rotunda and filled the second-floor balcony. “These cuts will have a real human impact.”
Approximately 9,000 Rhode Islanders live in nursing homes.
Under the governor’s spending plan, the state would save $1.9 million of state money by delaying the inflation increase. Nursing home advocates point out that by doing so, the nursing homes would lose an additional $2.1 million in matching Medicaid funds — a net decrease of $4 million. And since the inflationary increase comes one to two years after nursing homes have already paid their bills, the nursing homes are not being reimbursed for money they have already spent, Burke said.
Last year, a similar delay cost Rhode Island nursing homes $7 million, “in money they’ve already spent and will never get back,” Burke said.
The other proposed cut would save the state $2.4 million by lowering the amount that nursing homes are reimbursed for labor costs. Advocates say the nursing homes would lose an equal amount in matching federal money.
One local nursing home would have to lay off 12 percent of its staff in order to break even after the cuts, said Richard Gamache, administrator of the Elmhurst Extended Care Facility.
“When elders call the bell for help, who will be there? Who will help them get to a bathroom or help with meals or soiled sheets,” Gamache asked the cheering crowd. “Is that acceptable to you? These cuts are not only unacceptable — they are insane.”
Earlier in the day, the issue of nursing home spending came up during the Revenue Estimating Conference at the State House.
The news on state savings was mixed.
Budget writers had anticipated a larger dip in the number of people receiving cash aid from the state’s Family Independence Program. While banking on a 13.5-percent drop in the program’s caseload, legislators only got an 8.8-percent decline and spending is running $2.3 million over the $53.6 million for the program in the current-year budget, a shortfall not addressed in the deficit-closing bill passed by the House last week.
However, the state Department of Human Services projects $23.9 million in Medicaid savings — assuming the state takes controversial cost-savings steps, including one that helped ignite yesterday’s protest rally. That move would reduce nursing home reimbursements for labor from 125 percent to 110 percent of the statewide median cost.
Other savings are attributable to a drop in RIte Care enrollments. Department of Human Services expected a drop-off in the state subsidized health-insurance program for families after the state last year required proof of identity and documentation of citizenship. DHS Deputy Director John Young said 5,000 applications were denied for lack of documentation, but that only partially explains the drop-off.
With staff reports from Katherine Gregg.
jjordan@projo.com
