It may be time to amend that popular saying, “News of my death has been greatly exaggerated.” I’m thinking that when it comes to the ballyhooed new Medicaid reform panel, “News of my successful birth has been greatly exaggerated” would be more appropriate.
To bring you up to speed, this panel was supposed to be part of a “win” for nursing home operators and other providers in the fiscal year 2006 federal budget. The budget also includes a “loss” of $10 billion in Medicaid funding.
The Bush administration was against the idea of the panel, and in favor of even deeper Medicaid cuts. But W registered the “L” when Democrats — and a key member of his own party, Senate Aging Committee Chairman Gordon Smith (R-OR), who sponsored an amendment that brought the panel to life — essentially overran him.
But now we’re seeing who may get the last laugh. Bush appointee Michael Leavitt, the head of Health and Human Services, announced that he alone would be appointing all of the voting members on this new panel.
Democrats, the National Governors Association and Sen. Smith himself turned down offers for non-voting or otherwise inconsequential roles on the panel. (One has to wonder how much party help Smith might expect get for his next election campaign, but that’s another story.)
So long-term care operators and others who were hoping the panel would find a way to stop or work around the $10 billion in cuts had better think again.
Make no mistake, too. If you’re reading this, Medicaid funding is a significant part of your professional life, if only because it so profoundly affects the long-term care system around you. Some two-thirds of all nursing home care is paid by Medicaid sources, and that creates incredible ripple effects.
State and federal regulators are truly beginning to sweat those effects, wondering how they’re going to keep up with mushrooming Medicaid costs. That’s why many players are applauding the $10 billion in Medicaid cutbacks.
But even if the panel doesn’t produce a great Medicaid fix, providers should not bow their heads too low.
The fact is this administration has been pretty good for business. Recent Medicare marketbasket updates have been healthy. A one time corrective adjustment to base pay rates last year made provider advocates downright giddy. And then there was this spring’s surprising announcement that resource utilization groups (RUGs) reforms wouldn’t be nearly as harsh as feared.
Medicaid cuts are coming. But all is not lost.
James M. Berklan
Editor, McKnight’s Long-Term Care News
[email protected]
