American Eldercare is proposing moving 30,000 intermediate care nursing home residents and funding into home and community-based programs. That is over 40% of the estimated nursing home population.
Our Florida Promise strongly opposes this proposal. We cannot solve the state’s Medicaid budget challenges by putting resident safety at risk or eliminating patient choice which could result from the American Eldercare’s proposed expansion of the Nursing Home Diversion Program.
- Moving frail elder residents to less regulated and less medically-equipped assisted living facilities and home and community-based settings is dangerous for frail, vulnerable seniors who require 24-hour nursing care.
- The American Eldercare proposal is simply an expansion of the Medicaid program and not a cost savings to the state, as it will expand state waiver services to people who would have otherwise received care privately or from family members (“the woodwork effect” – occurs when individuals in the community who have been getting along with limited assistance may take advantage of expanded home and community-based services). *Office of Program Policy Analysis & Government Accountability, Report 06-45.
- Since March 2009, the Nursing Home Transition Program has determined it is safe to transition only 864 residents out of nursing homes and into home and community-based settings, amounting to approximately 2% of nursing home residents relying on Medicaid.
- Nursing homes are steadily improving the quality and cost of care, shifting the type of services they provide from Medicaid long term care to a variety of rehabilitation, acute and convalescent services covered under Medicare. Medicaid patient days have declined from a high in 2004 of 17.2 million days to 15.5 million in 2009.
- Nursing home expenditures account for less than 15% of the state’s overall Medicaid budget which is down from 19% in 2001.
- There are 684 nursing homes in Florida, representing 82,276 beds
- The estimated number of residents is 72,000 (roughly 85% occupancy at any given time)
- Florida has the second lowest percentage of over-65 seniors living in nursing homes in the nation at just 2.1% (compared to just under 5% nationally) Yet, Florida is the oldest state in the nation.
We urge Florida Legislators to keep their promise -- support quality nursing home care and dismiss proposals which put current and future long term care residents’ safety and choice at risk.