Planned $4 billion cut in nursing home funding is 'lesson in health care complexity'

The Connecticut Mirror explains how this scheduled reduction, which will take effect Oct. 1, came to be. The Denver Post quantifies what the local impact might be.

The Connecticut Mirror: Nursing Home Cut A Lesson In Health Care Complexity
Federal officials say a plan to cut nearly $4 billion in Medicare funding to nursing homes is just a correction to curb unanticipated overspending. Critics say it's a wrongheaded move that could force staff cuts and lead some homes to close. ... The cut, which takes effect Oct. 1 at the start of the next federal fiscal year, is expected to reduce Medicare nursing home payments by 11.1 percent. It stems from a change made last October to the way nursing homes can bill for patients receiving physical, occupational and speech therapy (Levin Becker, 8/8).

Denver Post: Looming Medicare Cuts Jeopardize Colorado Nursing Homes' Operations, Profits
A steep cut in Medicare payments to nursing centers caring for short-term patients on their way back home will likely result in layoffs, tighter budgets and vanished profits, nursing home officials warned. Medicare announced it will cut payments for its patients in short-term nursing home stays by 11.1 percent Oct. 1, or nearly $60 a day per patient. The change means nearly $37 million less in federal payments to Colorado nursing homes next year, said Arlene Miles of the industry group Colorado Health Care Association. Coupled with a 1.5 percent cut in the state Medicaid rate, which pays for the majority of nursing home residents, the losses will threaten staffing levels and squeeze facilities already challenged by low patient counts (Booth, 8/9).