Facts

The Facts about Providing Quality Care: Why We Need Adequate Funding

• Today, Florida’s nursing home staffing standards are one of the highest in the nation. The Florida legislature has funded these required staffing increases, but the new Medicaid rates effective January 1, 2008 cut funding by an annualized $75 million, eliminating the funding received for the January 1, 2007 mandatory nurse and CNA staffing increases (from 2.6 to 2.9 CNA hours of patient care per day).
• Nursing homes lose an average of $12.24 per day to care for a Medicaid patient. The cost to care for a Medicaid patient exceeds the reimbursement rate for 92% of all nursing homes.
• Two-thirds of nursing homes’ costs are for people – salaries and benefits. When nursing home funding is cut, people are cut meaning there are fewer hands to do the many important jobs in a nursing home. Individual workloads increase, contributing to increased turnover.
• As a result of the 2001 legislation, fully 87% of the Florida nursing home patients and 84% of their families now describe their nursing home as “excellent” or “good.” The Office of the State Long Term Care Ombudsman reports fewer nursing home complaints received and investigated over the past several years. Care has improved because funding has improved.
• Governor Crist has proposed eliminating $192 million in inflation-related increases for 2008-09. The last time funding was cut this drastically, approximately one fourth of the nursing homes in Florida filed for bankruptcy and nearly two dozen closed their doors permanently, sending their vulnerable elderly patients elsewhere.
• At the federal level, Congress is contemplating cuts in both Medicare and Medicaid funding. These cuts threaten all the quality and improvement gains that Florida has made in quality of care at the very time they are needed most.

Money is tight in Florida, but we cannot let our seniors down. Learn how you can take action and give facilities the resources they need to provide quality, skilled nursing care.