Home care and assisted living providers worry about healthcare reform effects

$32 billion. That's the amount of funding that home care providers and assisted living facilities say will be cut from Medicare for their services over the next 10 years.


A national group of providers met in New Mexico recently to ask legislators there to make sure that any laws passed would have provisions for fair payments to those who provide medical services to residents in retirement living communities.


"We believe that proposals in place to cut Medicare funding for seniors in nursing homes would place an unfair burden on our nation's most vulnerable seniors depending upon this important care," said Lisa Cantrell, National Association of Health Care Assistants president.

"These funding reductions would lead to job cuts in important positions like these that can make a real impact on seniors' care outcomes."


In New Mexico, the funding could put more than 160 care assistant jobs at risk for elimination, according to NAHCA analysis, and some nurses worried about their patients if they were forced to look for different work or take reduced hours.


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