LeadingAge NY, Other Groups Push for Payment of Nursing Home Add-on

Among our advocacy efforts on nursing home rates, LeadingAge NY is continuing to push for implementation of the 1 percent add-on to nursing home rates, which is supposed to be made retroactive to 2014.

In a Sept. 23, 2016 letter to State Medicaid Director Jason Helgerson, LeadingAge NY and five other associations representing nursing homes urged the Department of Health (DOH) to take all steps necessary to pay the promised 1 percent add-on to nursing home Medicaid rates with an effective funding date of April 1, 2014. The letter reiterates concerns that the delays in making the associated payment adjustments have added to facilities’ cash flow difficulties and to the administrative burden that nursing home providers and managed care plans will face in implementing these adjustments.

By way of background, the 2 percent across-the-board Medicaid reduction enacted in 2011 was repealed in 2014. Nursing home services have been subject to a 0.8 percent assessment on cash receipts in lieu of the 2 percent cut. An agreement was reached with DOH to utilize half of the funding generated by the 0.8 percent assessment to fund Universal Settlement payments. The other half of the funding from the assessment is supposed to be used to provide a 1 percent add-on to the rates.

LeadingAge NY will keep members updated on the status of this advocacy effort.

Contact: Dan Heim, dheim@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8383, ext. 128