Municipalities in Oklahoma are taking ownership of nursing homes by the dozen, with an eye toward gaining federal dollars under a new state program.
All told, 46 long-term care providers have fallen into the hands of cities across the Sooner State over the past 15 months. The Nursing Facility Upper Payment Limit program, which gives millions of dollars in extra Medicaid payments to qualified nursing homes, means that the owner municipalities stand to get a 25% cut of the extra payments, Oklahoma Watch reports.
However, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services still has to consent to the state’s proposal. If approved, it would open up the door for $18.5 million in extra Medicaid funds in the next federal fiscal year.
In one example, Pauls Valley — a town of about 6,200 residents in central Oklahoma — now owns 28 nursing homes across the state. The city manager tells the website that it hopes the extra dollars from the program help shore up the community’s troubled public hospital. Cities don’t manage day-to-day operations at the facilities but rather hold licenses to operate and sign management agreements, often with previous operators.
Nico Gomez, head of the Oklahoma Association of Health Care Providers, said this trend has risen partly because of local providers are struggling to get by on the state’s relatively small Medicaid reimbursements. He noted that other states, such as Texas, Indiana and Utah, also have upper payment limit programs for nursing homes.
“You’re actually having to give up your license to somebody else for the purposes of being able to keep your doors open,” Gomez told Oklahoma Watch. “… It’s frustrating that you have to look at stuff like this in order to improve your financial stability, to take care of your senior residents.”
