|
|
But Mr. Rendell and administration officials say nursing homes are paid well above the national average.
"When I came into office, in my first budget, states were not only not giving any inflation increases, they were reducing the amount of reimbursement rates for the nursing homes," Mr. Rendell said. "If you look at the last five years, our nursing homes have fared well. They don't tell you that, but they have fared very well."
In the past three years, nursing homes got increases from the state of 2.8 percent, 2 percent and 3 percent, according to the Pennsylvania Health Care Association.
But Dr. Stuart Shapiro, president and CEO of that nursing home industry group, presented a different overall picture.
"If you're losing money, and his own staff acknowledges we're losing money, it doesn't matter what the rates are," Dr. Shapiro said.
While rates have increased in the past three years, they haven't increased enough, Dr. Shapiro said, noting that legislation approved in 2005 allowed the Department of Public Welfare to adjust reimbursement rates based on budget factors.
During that time, Dr. Shapiro said, the state has under-funded nursing homes by $290 million.
And as far as the argument that Pennsylvania funds its nursing homes well, compared to other states, Dr. Shapiro responded: "It ain't true."
He later said: "Nursing home patients in Pennsylvania are sicker, older than the national averages, and according to recent AARP data, Pennsylvania provides more regulated nursing hours per patient day than New York, Maryland, New Jersey and Ohio, and, therefore, is the governor suggesting that we reduce the number of hours of nursing care in order to bring down the rates?"
This debate is being driven by what Mr. Rendell and lawmakers say is a particularly tough budget year, with the national economic downturn starting to hit Pennsylvania.
Captiolwire
