Retirement News : Seniors : Nursing homes best for long-term care Varvel's view

Nursing homes best for long-term care Varvel's view

Date Added: 31-05-2005

The April 22 editorial (“Wise budget CHOICEs”) wrongly perpetuates the notion that the state will save tons of money – while providing the same level of quality care – by moving people out of nursing homes and caring for those folks at home. If it could be done, given the state’s dire economic situation, the state would already be doing it.

Nursing homes don’t decide whether a particular patient is admitted to a nursing home. That job falls to the state’s pre-admission screening program, which determines whether each patient’s medical needs are sufficient enough to need 24-hour care, and in the case of the patient whose care will be paid for by Medicaid, whether the nursing home is the most cost-effective place for that care. In this way, the state decides the “right care, at the right time, in the right place” for anyone needing long-term care.

Nearly 70 percent of all Indiana nursing home patients’ care is paid for by Medicaid, which pays nursing homes an average rate of $107 per day, per patient for around-the-clock care, or less than $4.50 per hour. Medicaid is a federal-state partnership in which the governments share costs. This partnership means that in Indiana, the state pays $1.69 per hour to care for a nursing home Medicaid patient. The average state cost for one year of nursing home care is $14,841.

The editorial claims nursing home patients can be cared for cheaper at home through the CHOICE program, but the math says otherwise. The CHOICE program is not a federal-state partnership like Medicaid, which means there is no sharing of costs with the federal government. It costs the CHOICE program more than $150,000 a year to provide around-the-clock attendant care for a patient; if the patient needs more than attendant care – for example, a licensed practical nurse or a home health registered nurse – the 24-hour per day annual cost for those professionals jumps to $192,000 and $262,800, respectively. In addition, an overhead rate of $23 per visit is added to each home health visit (this charge is not included in the figures above).

For the $1.69 per hour that the state pays for a Medicaid nursing home patient’s care, the patient receives:

•24-hour licensed nursing care staff.

•Furniture, housekeeping, linens and personal hygiene items and services.

•All meals and snacks (under the direction of a licensed dietitian).

•Social services (directed by a licensed social worker or social service designee).

•Activities (directed by a trained activity director).

•Over-the-counter medications and nursing supplies.

•Room, housing, shelter and utilities.

It is a cruel hoax by those who try to convince the state’s opinion leaders that vast sums of money can be saved by moving people out of nursing homes.

For More Information:

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/news/editorial/11768689.htm