As Governor Quinn's Proposed Medicaid Reductions Debated, New Study Finds Illinois Nursing Homes Suffer $28.8 Million Medicare Cut From New Federal Tax Law
Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 Cuts IL SNF's Medicare Funding 3rd Highest in U.S.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill., April 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --As Governor Pat Quinn prepares to detail specifically where and how he plans to find Medicaid savings in next year's state budget, a new Avalere Health analysis detailing the negative impact on Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs) resulting from so called "bad debt" provisions passed in the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 finds Illinois' SNFs (more commonly known as nursing homes) will suffer a $28.8 million Medicare funding reduction – the third largest cut nationally.
"Because Medicare and Medicaid together pay for the care of approximately three of every four Illinois nursing home patients, it is crucial to look at the cumulative impact Medicare and Medicaid cuts have on the ability of economically-pressed facilities to sustain the delivery of high quality care," warned Alan G. Rosenbloom, President of the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care (AQNHC), which funded the analysis.
On a policy basis, Rosenbloom also noted that the phrase "bad debt" is a misnomer, and urged the Illinois congressional delegation to review the essential fact that the federal government itself prevents SNFs from collecting as much as 90 percent of SNF bad debt. "SNFs have no legal recourse to collect 'bad debt' from the Illinois Medicaid agency -- and is more accurately described as 'uncollectible debt' as mandated by federal law," he stated.
The following is the Top 5 State Impact on Medicare Payments to SNFs resulting from the "Bad Debt" Provision in the new tax law (amounts in millions; methodology notes available at www.aqnhc.org; *Discrepancy due to rounding):
| State
|
FY 2015 Medicare Prior Law
|
FY 2015 Medicare Bad Debt Payments: Current Law
|
Impact of Bad Debt Tax Relief and Job Creation Act |
| FL |
$181.8 |
$121.3 |
$60.5 |
| OH |
$88.1 |
$57.6 |
$30.5 |
| IL |
$84.1 |
$55.3 |
$28.8 |
| PA |
$70.5 |
$46.3 |
$24.2 |
| NC |
$65.5 |
$43.0 |
$22.6* |
Rosenbloom pointed out the U.S. SNF sector is already slated to absorb another $48 billion nationally in Medicare reductions between FY 2012-21, and that SNFs also remain disproportionately reliant on Medicaid as compared to other providers -- with Medicaid paying for 57 percent of patient days.
Contact: Rebecca Reid
(410) 212-3843
SOURCE Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care
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