Protest proposed cuts of Medicare funds

    One of the alternatives is a drastic cut to Medicare funding for skilled nursing services of more than $4 billion nationwide. More specifically, the proposal asks for cuts to Medicare reimbursement to skilled nursing facilities for therapies of 12.8 percent in fiscal 2012. The proposal is based on less than one year of data, but historically, CMS bases decisions on a full year.
    Since CMS issued the proposed rule, advocates for adequate funding for nursing home care have lobbied hard against the “12.8 percent solution,” pointing out the devastating effects that such a proposal would have on the residents and employees of skilled nursing and rehabilitation facilities. The nursing home profession has asked for an approach based on at least one full year of data, a measure supported by Rhode Island’s Congressmen James R. Langevin and David Cicilline and 150 other U.S. representatives.
    Advocates are also asking for a phased in approach that would allow a more measured path to proposed therapy changes, allowing facilities to prepare for and manage the potential effects of reduced resources. Immediate imposition of a drastic but arbitrary funding cut will risk great harm to those who work and live in nursing homes.
    Even those not directly associated with a skilled nursing or rehabilitation facility would feel the effects of the CMS proposal.
    A recent independent economic analysis indicates that reducing $4.5 billion from this sector all at once could cost the economy more than 100,000 jobs nationwide. Reliable Medicare payments have allowed skilled nursing facilities to retain employees who otherwise may have been cut due to deep Medicaid cuts. In Rhode Island, moreover, health care is one of the largest employers, and funding cuts that require layoffs in the health care continuum affect the state’s economy on a widespread scale.
    Recently, a contingent of long-term care professionals converged on Washington to voice concerns to all who would listen about the drastic action proposed by CMS. More than 400 health care leaders, nurses and administrators participated in a congressional briefing to warn policy makers of the effects of not only the CMS proposal, but also cuts from Medicaid block grants that are being simultaneously debated. The impact caused by simultaneous cuts to nursing homes’ two predominant payer sources would be significant.
    As of late July, no direction had been set on the CMS rule, but a decision was imminent.  Please contact Dr. Donald Berwick, CMS administrator at (202) 690-6726 to voice your concern over the Medicare cuts as proposed. Your input will make a difference.

    Joan M. Woods is chair of the Rhode Island Health Care Association (RIHCA), a nonprofit association comprised of about two-thirds of the state’s skilled nursing and rehabilitation facilities. She is also executive administrator of the Genesis HealthCare Grand Islander Center in Middletown. She can be reached at (401) 849-7100 or joan.woods@genesishcc.com.