New $15 Million Medicaid Cuts From Olympia, Nearly $27 Billion Medicare Cut From DC Imperils Care Quality, Staffing Stability in Facilities Throughout State; Federal Delegation Urged to Oppose Additional Medicare Cuts, Help Extend Federal Medicaid Assistance (FMAP) Assistance
SEATTLE, May 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Even as they thanked Governor Christine Gregoire for helping reduce the level of new state Medicaid cuts slated to go into effect in July, leaders from the Washington Health Care Association (WHCA) and the national Coalition to Protect Seniors Care (CPSC) warned that in conjunction with federal Medicare cuts of nearly $27 billion in the just the past six months, vulnerable seniors and the facility staff who care for them are caught in a worsening cost squeeze. This funding squeeze, they said, risks patient care quality as well as the jobs of the key frontline caregivers who make a key difference in patient outcomes.
"Governor Gregoire deserves our praise for helping to reduce the size and scope of the new cuts to seniors' Medicaid-financed nursing home care we will soon see as the end result of the Olympia legislative session," stated Gary Weeks, President and CEO of WHCA. "But even then, our most vulnerable patients will still face $15 million in new Medicaid funding cuts on top of deep cuts to Medicare passed in October 2009 and as part of the federal health care reform bill. The cumulative negative impact on patients' care and the viability of the caregiver jobs base in communities throughout Washington is a matter of growing concern to all of us."
Continued Weeks: "With seventy percent of our facility costs directly related to staffing, the enormous instability caused by new state Medicaid cuts from Olympia and the worsening Medicare funding squeeze from Washington places vulnerable seniors' ongoing care needs in direct jeopardy, and puts key facility jobs at substantial risk. Adequate, stable and consistent Medicaid and Medicare funding was and always will be directly linked with high quality care and staffing and employment stability."
Angelica Gutierrez, CNA, speaking for the Coalition to Protect Senior Care, explained that front-line care jobs like those performed by Certified Nurse Aides (CNAs) are instrumental to the delivery of quality care, and that stable Medicare funding from Washington is essential to compensating for state Medicaid funding cuts. "The problem we face as front line caregivers is simple: Any additional cuts to seniors' Medicare or Medicaid-funded nursing home care will risk front line care jobs, undercut quality, and place vulnerable patients in direct jeopardy," she warned.
From a health care policy perspective, the state and national caregivers noted that Medicare's dangerous "cross-subsidization" of Medicaid -- Medicare being forced to prop-up deteriorating Medicaid funding in the wake of historically challenging state fiscal conditions -- continues to unfortunately play a vital role in sustaining nursing home care for Washington's most vulnerable citizens. Beyond threatening patient care and undermining employment stability and opportunities, they pointed out, the worsening Medicare and Medicaid cost-squeeze inhibits facilities' continued investment in cost effective care.
"Washington's nursing homes are caring for an increasingly diverse patient base, and providing a greater variety of acute care, rehabilitative and convalescent services that cannot be delivered elsewhere," Weeks noted. "These are the very services patients depend upon in order to recuperate and return to their homes – which is a central objective of every facility throughout Washington."
To help ameliorate the growing pressure on Washington's state Medicaid program, the long term care leaders urged the Washington congressional delegation to help force final action to extend until June 30, 2011 the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) increase for states, passed as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). That extra federal Medicaid assistance is scheduled to expire December 31, 2010. In regard to stopping additional federal Medicare cuts, the long-term care leaders also joined patients and caregivers to sign a ten foot petition specifically asking Congress to "…help make certain that Medicare-funded nursing home care is not additionally cut as part of any deficit reduction effort in the weeks and months ahead as these cuts would severely harm the continued provision of highest quality long term care in our state."
The Coalition to Protect Senior Care consists of the American Association for Long Term Care Nursing (AALTCN); the American College of Health Care Administrators (ACHCA); the American Association of Nurse Assessment Coordinators (AANAC); the National Rural Health Association (NRHA); The American Association of Nurse Assessment Coordinators (AANAC) the American College of Health Care Administrators (ACHCA); the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA); the American Society of Health Care Administration Executives (ASHCAE); ASHCAE state affiliate members representing Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Texas and Utah; the American Health Care Association (AHCA); the American Health Quality Association (AHQA); the National Association for the Support of Long Term Care (NASL); the National Association of Health Care Assistants (NAHCA); the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care; and the Senior Clinician Group.
SOURCE Coalition to Protect Senior Care
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SEATTLE, May 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Even as they thanked Governor Christine Gregoire for helping reduce the level of new state Medicaid cuts slated to go into effect in July, leaders from the Washington Health Care Association (WHCA) and the national Coalition to Protect Seniors Care (CPSC) warned that in conjunction with federal Medicare cuts of nearly $27 billion in the just the past six months, vulnerable seniors and the facility staff who care for them are caught in a worsening cost squeeze. This funding squeeze, they said, risks patient care quality as well as the jobs of the key frontline caregivers who make a key difference in patient outcomes.
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"Governor Gregoire deserves our praise for helping to reduce the size and scope of the new cuts to seniors' Medicaid-financed nursing home care we will soon see as the end result of the Olympia legislative session," stated Gary Weeks, President and CEO of WHCA. "But even then, our most vulnerable patients will still face $15 million in new Medicaid funding cuts on top of deep cuts to Medicare passed in October 2009 and as part of the federal health care reform bill. The cumulative negative impact on patients' care and the viability of the caregiver jobs base in communities throughout Washington is a matter of growing concern to all of us."
Continued Weeks: "With seventy percent of our facility costs directly related to staffing, the enormous instability caused by new state Medicaid cuts from Olympia and the worsening Medicare funding squeeze from Washington places vulnerable seniors' ongoing care needs in direct jeopardy, and puts key facility jobs at substantial risk. Adequate, stable and consistent Medicaid and Medicare funding was and always will be directly linked with high quality care and staffing and employment stability."
Angelica Gutierrez, CNA, speaking for the Coalition to Protect Senior Care, explained that front-line care jobs like those performed by Certified Nurse Aides (CNAs) are instrumental to the delivery of quality care, and that stable Medicare funding from Washington is essential to compensating for state Medicaid funding cuts. "The problem we face as front line caregivers is simple: Any additional cuts to seniors' Medicare or Medicaid-funded nursing home care will risk front line care jobs, undercut quality, and place vulnerable patients in direct jeopardy," she warned.
From a health care policy perspective, the state and national caregivers noted that Medicare's dangerous "cross-subsidization" of Medicaid -- Medicare being forced to prop-up deteriorating Medicaid funding in the wake of historically challenging state fiscal conditions -- continues to unfortunately play a vital role in sustaining nursing home care for Washington's most vulnerable citizens. Beyond threatening patient care and undermining employment stability and opportunities, they pointed out, the worsening Medicare and Medicaid cost-squeeze inhibits facilities' continued investment in cost effective care.
"Washington's nursing homes are caring for an increasingly diverse patient base, and providing a greater variety of acute care, rehabilitative and convalescent services that cannot be delivered elsewhere," Weeks noted. "These are the very services patients depend upon in order to recuperate and return to their homes – which is a central objective of every facility throughout Washington."
To help ameliorate the growing pressure on Washington's state Medicaid program, the long term care leaders urged the Washington congressional delegation to help force final action to extend until June 30, 2011 the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) increase for states, passed as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). That extra federal Medicaid assistance is scheduled to expire December 31, 2010. In regard to stopping additional federal Medicare cuts, the long-term care leaders also joined patients and caregivers to sign a ten foot petition specifically asking Congress to "…help make certain that Medicare-funded nursing home care is not additionally cut as part of any deficit reduction effort in the weeks and months ahead as these cuts would severely harm the continued provision of highest quality long term care in our state."
The Coalition to Protect Senior Care consists of the American Association for Long Term Care Nursing (AALTCN); the American College of Health Care Administrators (ACHCA); the American Association of Nurse Assessment Coordinators (AANAC); the National Rural Health Association (NRHA); The American Association of Nurse Assessment Coordinators (AANAC) the American College of Health Care Administrators (ACHCA); the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA); the American Society of Health Care Administration Executives (ASHCAE); ASHCAE state affiliate members representing Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Texas and Utah; the American Health Care Association (AHCA); the American Health Quality Association (AHQA); the National Association for the Support of Long Term Care (NASL); the National Association of Health Care Assistants (NAHCA); the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care; and the Senior Clinician Group.
SOURCE Coalition to Protect Senior Care
