Nursing homes hope noise will hike funding

Lisa Kisinger is hoping for a big crowed from Wauneta, and elsewhere, in Lincoln Dec. 19.
    That’s the date for a conference at the state capital to deal with the looming crisis nursing home face because of the state’s Medicaid system.
    Organized by Rural Health Development, Nebraska Healthcare Association and Leading Age, all of which lobby for nursing homes, the conference will be at 10 a.m. CT at the Lancaster Event Center.
    The conference is aimed at part in educating the public about the financial crisis nursing homes face, as well as census and staffing issues.
    The Medicaid payment problem in particular is a long-standing issue and has gotten worse, Kisinger, administrator of the Wauneta Care and Therapy Center,  said.
    It actually started three years ago, when the state provided no increase in Medicaid reimbursement. Previously, Medicaid reimbursements were increased two percent a year. The following year, the reimbursement was cut by 3.65 percent and for the latest fiscal year, it was cut by another 7.17 percent.
    In the case of Wauneta Care and Therapy Center, 15 patients are Medicaid recipients, 14 are private-pay and two are on Medicare.
    The timing also is a problem.
    In the case of the latest, largest cut, “everybody got their budgets done and they dropped the bombshell that they were dropping us another 7.17 percent,” Kisinger said. “That just about killed us. You can’t raise private-pay people 7.17 percent to make up that difference.” Private-pay patients already see an increase of 4 percent a year, she added.

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Nursing homes hope noise will hike funding | Wauneta Breeze

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