Pa. nursing homes brace for another round of state cuts

Pennsylvania nursing-home operators, already strike hard by last year's cuts in federal as well as state funding, face an additional income detriment in Gov. Corbett's proposed budget for a mercantile year starting July 1.The budget proposal, expelled Tuesday, calls for a 4 percent cut in a Medicaid reimbursement rate for nursing homes. The total income detriment for nursing homes is projected by a Pennsylvania Health Care Association to be $46.5 million.That amounts to a nearly $8-per-day rebate in a average daily reimbursement of $194 for Medicaid patients, a Harrisburg trade organisation for nursing-home operators pronounced Wednesday.Already, nursing homes have been losing $19.23 on each day of care provided to a Medicaid patient under a current budget, up from a per-day detriment of $15.13 a prior year, a organisation said."I think you will see some providers get into financial trouble. I think you'll see some providers slicing down on hands-on care," pronounced Scott Rifkin, founder as well as boss of Mid-Atlantic Health Care L.L.C., a Timonium, Md., company that last year bought five nursing homes in Philadelphia for $75 million.Corbett's proposed Medicaid cuts also affect hospitals as well as alternative health-care providers, though a direct impact is not clear."We have been still trying to understand a cuts. There have been many pieces that have implications for hospitals," pronounced Priscilla Koutsouradis, communications executive for a Delaware Valley Healthcare Council, which represents hospitals in a region.For a nursing-home industry, a calculations have been not utterly so complicated."Pennsylvania's Medicaid program covers about two-thirds of residents in a state's nursing homes," pronounced Stuart Shapiro, boss as well as arch executive of a Pennsylvania Health Care Association.In Philadelphia, that figure is even higher - 75 percent. In nearby counties, a commission of nursing-home residents on Medicaid ranges from 49 percent in Chester County to 64 percent in Delaware County.Nursing homes have been already contending with a significant cut in Medicare reimbursement rates that took effect Oct. 1, trimming as much as 18 percent from a federal program that homes counted on to break even, since their losses on Medicaid.Nancy Kleinberg, co-owner of Park Pleasant nursing home in West Philadelphia, pronounced a Medicare cuts resulted in a $380,000 rebate in revenue."That was before any state cuts," pronounced Kleinberg, whose father founded Park Pleasant in 1947.Kleinberg pronounced she as well as her sister, a alternative owner, were advantageous because they don't have a mortgage. That gives them a bit more flexibility than some operators have."The issue isn't: Can you cut costs? Everybody can cut costs. The issue is: Can you cut costs as well as provide peculiarity care?" Kleinberg said.Cutting aid to elderly poor who rely on Medicaid is a relatively "easy thing to do," she said. "Their need is so great, though their voice is so small."Contact staff writer Harold Brubaker at 215-854-4651 or hbrubaker@phillynews.com. Powered By iWebRSS.co.cc

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