Nursing home owners want higher reimbursement (KVII 7 Amari

Posts: 33350 · Joined: 01 Feb 2005 Posts: 33350

Wednesday, August 13, 2008 at 11:33 a.m. OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Nursing home owners in Oklahoma want the state to increase the amount it reimburses them for long-term patient care.

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Posts: 13 · Joined: 21 Jul 2008 Posts: 13 Location: Devon UK

Quote:

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Nursing home owners in Oklahoma want the state to increase the amount it reimburses them for long-term patient care.

The group told members of a state House committee that failure to increase the state's share of nursing home costs will cause more homes to close.

The state and the federal Medicaid reimbursement last year was about $124 per patient per day while the actual operating cost was about $131 per day.

The owners suggest the state reimburse the homes at the Medicare rate that hospitals receive.

That rate would be about $200 a day and the group says that would be enough to make improvements at older nursing homes and offer better pay to employees.

That's pretty scandelous! IMO the state should at least be paying the homes what it costs them to look after residents, maybe more if it means that the carers get paid a decent wage for their work; Afterall with something as important as looking after a nation's elderly it doesn't seem unreasonable to pay a wage which will attract and retain people who'll give a damn about their work!