HARTFORD, Conn. — The nation’s nursing homes are perilously close to laying off workers, cutting services — possibly even closing — because of a perfect-storm wallop from the recession and deep cuts in federal and state government spending, industry experts say.
A rate adjustment that cuts an estimated $16 billion in nursing home funding over the next 10 years was enacted at week’s end by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services — on top of state-level cuts or flat-funding that already had the industry reeling.
And Congress is debating slashing billions more in Medicare funding.
Add it all up, and the nursing home industry is headed for a crisis, industry officials say.
“We can foresee the possibility of nursing homes having to close their doors,” said David Hebert, a senior vice president at the American Health Care Association.
The nation’s 16,000 nursing homes housed 1.85 million people last year, up from 1.79 million in 2007, U.S. Census Bureau figures show.
Already this year, 24 states have cut funding for nursing home care and other health services needed by low-income people who are elderly or disabled, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonprofit research firm based in Washington, D.C.
The federal stimulus package approved in February includes $87 billion in Medicaid funding to help states. But several states are using a loophole in the legislation to divert the money to budget items unrelated to health care, according to a congressional study.
Medicaid payments by states to nursing homes fell short by $12 per patient, per day last year.
