FLORIDA LEGISLATORS MUST KEEP THEIR PROMISE TO SUPPORT QUALITY NURSING HOME CARE
Voters across Florida agree: the state must keep its promise to fully fund quality nursing home care.
Florida legislators approved landmark elder care facility reform legislation in 2001 that mandated increased minimum staffing requirements, tougher regulation and quality improvement and risk management programs. Since then, nursing home quality has steadily improved. Now, Medicaid funding cuts threaten this progress and the vulnerable elderly who have nowhere else to go.
Health care providers like nursing homes have had drastic cuts--- and more are predicted during the 2008 legislative session. Nursing homes cannot continue to be held accountable by the state for standards of care that the state legislators refuse to fund.
Keep the Promise to Fund Quality Care:
- Stop the Nursing Home Diversion Program: Stop the plan that envisions Medicaid no longer covering the coss of intermediate nursing home care, thus requiring individuals that need intermediate care would either privately pay for it or recieve state-funded care in the Nursing Home Diversion Program.
- No unfunded mandates: Restore the $75 million in funding cut January 1, 2008 so that Florida’s nursing homes can pay for the additional nurses and CNA staff the law now requires.
- Fully fund nursing homes’ ability to pay higher costs due to inflation and increasing vendor fees.
Read more about these issues here. Learn how you can take action and give facilities the resources they need to provide quality, skilled nursing care.
