| April 3, 2019
Cuts to funding & onerous regulations are advancing in Minnesota House
CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVE TODAY!
Dear Members,
Ask your representative to oppose the cuts to value-based reimbursement, swing bed expansion, and the onerous, overreaching regulations for assisted living. House File 2414, the House’s Omnibus Health and Human Services Bill, contains several sections that would have a serious and potentially devastating impact on senior care.
Cuts to nursing facility funding: The proposal cuts $68 million from Value-Based Reimbursement (VBR)–a $200 million impact to nursing homes when lost federal and private pay funds are taken into consideration–by reducing the limit on care-related costs and capping other operating costs related to plant operations, maintenance services, and administrative services.
Over regulates assisted living: The bill includes all of HF 90, which seeks to license assisted living. While we support the licensure of assisted living, this bill goes too far. The bill’s onerous and overreaching regulation of assisted living increases cost, reduces choice, and limits access to quality care close to home. Effectively, the bill would:
· impose more than $13 million in new licensure fees
· invalidate nearly all management agreements that are currently in effect in Minnesota
· make Medicaid participation mandatory
· prohibit moving an individual who has paid privately for at least one year
· expand civil litigation to allow for private enforcement of the home care bill of rights
Expands Swing beds: The proposal includes a massive expansion of swing bed authorization, increasing the limit from 2,000 days a year to 9,125 days a year for critical access hospitals that do not have an attached nursing home. We oppose this proposal because it will financially devastate small, community nursing homes who have the capacity to take post-acute care referrals at a lower rate than swing beds.
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Message to Representatives:
I am a senior services provider from your district, and I ask you to oppose the House Omnibus Health and Human Services Bill (HF 2414).
HF 2414 will jeopardize seniors’ access to safe, quality, affordable care in the communities they call home. The bill:
· Cuts nursing home funding: As a result of HF 2414 bill, nursing homes will lose more than $200 million in funding – a $68 million cut from the state budget, and the rest from a federal match and private pay. These cuts will have the greatest impact on wages, benefits and training, which comprise nearly 65% of nursing home costs.
· Over regulates assisted living: While we support licensing assisted living, this bill goes too far! The bill’s onerous and overreaching regulation of assisted living will increase cost, reduce choice, and limit access to quality care close to home.
· Expands swing beds: The bill dramatically increases swing beds for critical access hospitals, which could financially cripple Minnesota’s nursing homes by creating an incentive for hospitals to send their patients to high-cost swing beds for care that could be provided better and for much cheaper at a nursing home closer to the patient’s home.
Please oppose HF 2414. 60,000 Minnesotans turn 65 this year and every year through 2030, and now is not the time to limit access to safe, affordable long-term care options.
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