STATE NURSING HOMES FEEL PINCH
Monday, September 26th, 2005 -- 3:36 PM
As the state senate readies an attempt to override Gov. Doyle?s veto of a 1.4-percent increase to Medicaid funding for nursing home patients, the Administrator of the Memorial Medical Center in Neillsville says the increase would only make a small dent in the state?s under-funding of medical assistance patients.The ?Health and Rehab Center? ? formerly the Memorial Nursing Home - in Neillsville ? currently has 87 residents. Eighty-percent of those patients are on Medicaid.
Glen Grady says Medicaid pays Memorial Med $27 a day less than it costs to care for each patient, that?s a shortage of roughly $750,000 per year on Medical Assistance patients.
The Clark County Health Care Center in Owen is losing nearly $3.9-million on Medicaid patients, Grady says.
Many believe the state has failed to recognize the cost of caring for those that can?t care for themselves, and that?s lead to a crisis situation?
"There's about 350 nursing homes losing money on Title XVIII patients right now. It's not out of the question that at least half of those could close in the next couple years," Grady says.
The Health and Rehab Center falls under the umbrella of Memorial Medical Center and basically shares a budget with the hospital and clinic. In a reversal from the 1980?s, Grady says the nursing home actually borrows from the Clinic and Hospital to make ends meet.
"In the 1970's and '80's, we used the nursing home to help subsidize the hospital, now we're in the reverse situation," Grady says. "Luckily, we're still profitable, even with those losses in the nursing home."
In another interesting twist, improved treatment has negatively impacted nursing homes? bottom lines. Grady says more elderly people are able to stay at home and that has driven down their census numbers ? good news, but news that has helped drive the average cost of a nursing home patient up to around $4,000 a month.
"The best place for people to be taken care of is at home. Well over 50% (of our nursing home patients) are going home after 30-60 days," Grady says. "But there are many that have to stay in."
"That's kind of a scary prospect that we could end up with the right number of nursing home beds, but they might be in communities far removed from the patient's home."
Aside from the state upping Medicaid funding, Grady says nursing home facilities are getting creative and diversifying their services and better utilizing space. And if you?re wondering, the Memorial Medical Center?s Health and Rehab Center is not one of those facilities looking to get out of the business.
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.