BISMARCK, N.D -- With North Dakota seniors facing cuts of up to $75 million in their Medicare-funded nursing home care over the next ten years as a result of pending health reform legislation in Congress, North Dakota and national long term care leaders will detail the specific threat to local seniors' care, describe how the separate bills pending in the U.S. Senate and House differ in level of Medicare cuts, explain how the state's congressional delegation can help fix the legislation in their respective chambers, and outline why the cuts are especially alarming in the context of broader state and national economic problems.
WHO:
Bruce Yarwood, President & CEO, American Health Care Association
Shelly Peterson, President, North Dakota Long Term Care Association
Gregory Salwei, Administrator, Wishek Home for the Aged, Wishek, ND
WHEN:
Wednesday, October 28
10:00 a.m. CDT
CALL-IN:
(800) 288-8961
BACKGROUND:
Separate health care reform bills now pending in the U.S. House and Senate will cut U.S. seniors' Medicare funded nursing home care by as much as $32 billion over ten years, equating to a loss of up to $75 million in funding for North Dakota seniors requiring nursing home care.
These funding reductions, which represent a direct, immediate threat to seniors' care – as well as to the local jobs of the caregivers responsible for 70 percent of direct patient care – would come at a time when the Obama Administration just imposed a regulatory cut to Medicare-financed nursing home care of up to $16 billion nationally, translating to at least $22.3 million in North Dakota alone. These cuts were put into effect by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on October 1, 2009.
A central focus of the policy discussion surrounds the contention from supporters of the Medicare cuts that seniors' care will not, in fact, be negatively impacted. This ignores the central fact that because a full 70 percent of nursing facilities' costs are labor-related, major disruption to facilities' economic stability will engender significant caregiver job losses, disrupt intra-facility quality improvement initiatives, and ultimately threaten North Dakota seniors' care in facilities across the state.
Today, the fragility of the North Dakota long term care infrastructure has never been so acute. Medicare funding decisions now being made in Washington are critical to meeting local seniors' ongoing care needs and preserving the jobs of those who provide their care.
CONTACT: Rebecca Reid, +1-410-212-3843, or Ellen Almond, +1-703-548-0019, both for American Health Care Association
/PRNewswire-USNewswire -- Oct. 26/
SOURCE American Health Care Association
