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LOCAL HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATOR: INCREASED BED ASSESSMENT A BAD IDEA
Monday, March 2nd, 2009 -- 9:25 am
Posted by Riley Hebert-News Director
A local hospital administrator doesn’t think a proposed hike to the state’s nursing home bed assessment is what the doctor ordered.
Scott Polenz (pahl-inz) of Memorial Medical Center in Neillsville says nursing homes are losing money as it is.
Gov. Doyle proposes hiking the nursing home bed tax from $75 per bed per month to $150 in the first year to the biennium and $170 in the second year.
"It adds more cost to a service that's already incredibly poorly paid by the government," Polenz laments, "On any of our residents taht are on Medicaid, we lose approximately $60 per day."
Doyle says some of the money would be used to pay for an increase in reimbursement rates for nursing homes with the rest going into the state M-A program.
But Polenz doesn’t see the logic in robbing Peter to pay Peter.
"Unless they drastically improve payments, it won't improve the problem. Why would you increase the tax and pat it down the road? Trusting the government to do that is not the best business sense," he says.
Memorial Medical Center has drastically reduced the number of nursing home beds in the past year. They are nearing completion of a conversion of the lower floor of the facility to private-pay assisted living.
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