Ohio Health Care Association Statement on Governor's Veto

COLUMBUS, Ohio, June 11, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Ohio's largest organization representing long-term care providers expressed disappointment that Governor John Kasich today vetoed from the Mid-Biennium Budget Review (House Bill 487) $30 million that both houses of the General Assembly had directed to skilled nursing facilities for meeting specified quality standards.

"We are very disappointed by this action," said Peter Van Runkle, Executive Director of the Ohio Health Care Association. He added, "Ohio's skilled nursing facilities are struggling financially in the wake of $360 million in Medicaid cuts and more than $400 million in Medicare cuts in the last year, and this $30 million would have made up for just a fraction of those cuts."

The payments would have been tied to skilled nursing facility quality measures developed last year by a Kasich Administration-led team. "Tying reimbursement to quality is a hallmark of the administration's policy for health care, which makes this veto doubly frustrating," Van Runkle said. He pointed out that the $30 million did not represent additional spending, as the money had been appropriated for payments to skilled nursing facilities in last year's budget bill, House Bill 153.

The Ohio Health Care Association is a non-profit association of more than 700 skilled nursing facilities, 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