Florida Nursing Homes Suffer Biggest National Medicare Cut From New Federal Tax Law

TALLAHASSEE, Fla., April 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Florida's skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), more commonly referred to as nursing homes, suffered a $60.5 million Medicare cut resulting from so-called "bad debt" provisions included in the recently-passed Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, according to a new study from Avalere Health. $60.5 million represents the highest SNF Medicare cut of all states nationally – and is double the size of Ohio's SNF Medicare cuts, which ranked second nationally at $30.5 million.

Alan G. Rosenbloom, President of the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care, which funded the study, said this latest cut to Florida SNFs -- coming on top of the $187.5 million (6.5%) state Medicaid cuts in 2011 -- places yet more stress on the state's facilities, which already lose $575,000 annually, on average, due to state Medicaid funding shortfalls (Source: Florida Health Care Association). "Because Medicare and Medicaid together pay for the care of three out of every four nursing home patients, it is crucial to look at the impact Medicare and Medicaid cuts have on the ability of providers to sustain the delivery of high quality care," stated Rosenbloom.

On a policy basis, he said the phrase "bad debt" is a misnomer, and urged the Florida 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 Florida's 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):

Rosenbloom pointed out the SNF sector is already slated to absorb another $48 billion 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: Ellen Almond
703/548-0019

SOURCE Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care

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