Survey finds nursing homes plan layoffs because of Medicare cuts

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Nov 9 2011

The move follows a decision by Medicare in July to reduce reimbursements to nursing homes by 11 percent.

Modern Healthcare: Medicare Cuts Mean Nursing Home Layoffs: Survey
Medicare nursing home reimbursement cuts will lead to direct-care staff layoffs at 63 percent of nursing home facilities, according to a survey of such facilities conducted on behalf of the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care, which represents for-profit nursing homes. In addition, 77 percent of respondents said they would be delaying expansion and renovations as a result of the 11 percent Medicare reimbursement cut to skilled-nursing facilities that went into effect Oct. 1, according to the online survey of association members and non-members, which was conducted by Avalere Health (Barr, 11/7).

The Hill: Nursing Homes Say Medicare Cut Will Cost 20,000 Jobs
Nursing homes say they're planning to lay off some 20,000 workers because of a cut in their Medicare payments. The federal Medicare agency decided in July to proceed with an 11 percent cut in payments to nursing homes. The reduction was intended to make up for previous overpayments, but nursing homes say it will go further. According to a new survey from Avalere Health, nursing homes plan to lay off about 20,000 workers because of the Medicare cuts. Nursing homes also said they plan to cancel a total of 400 expansion projects that could have created 20,000 new jobs nationwide (Baker, 11/7).

CQ HealthBeat: Nursing Home Industry Survey Says Payment Reg Means Job Losses
Nursing home administrators nationwide say they plan to lay off thousands of workers and postpone or cancel scores of expansion or renovations projects because of the Medicare payment regulation that went into effect on Oct. 1, according to an industry-conducted survey. "They're anticipating a difficult climate," said Dan Mendelson, CEO of Avalere Health, which held a conference call with reporters Monday morning to release the findings of an industry-wide survey (Bunis, 11/7).

This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.