New Report Dispels Myths About Long-Term Care and Medicaid

Ohio's Largest LTC Organization Issues Analysis of State's LTC Budget

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Jan. 12, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- New analysis issued by the state's largest long-term care association finds that Medicaid spending on skilled nursing facility (SNF) care is not a major cause of the state's budget problems. The report by the Ohio Health Care Association (OHCA), "Long-Term Care and the State Budget – An Analysis of Key Issues," analyzes data available from state agencies and other sources to show that this and other myths about Medicaid long-term care in Ohio are ill-founded.  The report points out other key long-term care facts that are relevant to the state budget.

Ohio's state budget will be a major challenge for the incoming Kasich Administration and the General Assembly, as billions of dollars of one-time money will have to be replaced. The state Medicaid program, and potentially long-term care, will be a significant target in that effort.

Among the myths addressed by the report is the notion that Medicaid spending on SNF care has driven up Ohio's Medicaid costs.  Another key myth is that Ohio's Medicaid rates for SNFs are much higher than the national average.

"The data we review in this report shows that Medicaid spending on SNFs is actually less than it was six years ago," said OHCA Executive Director Peter Van Runkle. He added that the rates Ohio pays to SNFs are very close to the national average, particularly when the state's high tax structure is taken into account.  "The bed tax increase imposed on SNFs two years ago has been a huge burden, as we point out in the report," said Van Runkle. "The tax nearly doubled, and close to half of it is not reimbursed by Medicaid, which means it comes out of patient care."

The report also highlights how the long-term care system in Ohio has evolved in recent years.  "We found that there has been a big shift of people - Medicaid recipients - into home and community-based services instead of SNF care," Van Runkle said, "but that also means the people who are coming to SNFs now are more acutely ill than in the past."

A copy of the report is available for download at www.ohca.org/uploads/news/LTC_and_the_Ohio_Budget.pdf. Printed copies and print-quality PDFs of tables and charts are available from OHCA.

The Ohio Health Care Association is a non-profit association of more than 700 SNFs, assisted living communities, and providers serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, representing over 50,000 individuals. Many OHCA members also provide a variety of home and community-based services.  OHCA is the largest long-term care association in the state, and the only chartered Ohio affiliate of the American Health Care Association, representing more than 12,000 long-term care facilities nationwide.

SOURCE Ohio Health Care Association