By ANNA
FORTUNE CHERUBIN SPECIAL TO THE SUN
SENTINEL | JAN 08, 2020 | 1:55 PM
In
Florida, two out of three nursing home residents — roughly 46,000 people — rely
on Medicaid to cover their long-term health care expenses, and when funding
fails to keep pace, it’s difficult to maintain the same level of quality care
these individuals expect and deserve. In an op-ed, a Broward County nursing
urges the Florida Legislature to boost funding.
From one
end of Florida to the other, nursing centers like ours in Broward County are
playing a crucial role in meeting the complex care needs of our residents. Our
skilled nurses and other trained caregivers are always mindful that many of our
residents, including members of America’s greatest generation, are now facing
significant health care challenges — from living with Alzheimer’s and other
dementias, to requiring dialysis for diabetes or kidney failure, to needing
individualized rehab after heart attacks or strokes.
We’re
working hard to ensure that our residents continue receiving the best possible
services, but recent state funding reductions are making it extremely difficult
to meet the demands of what it takes to deliver high-quality care. When the
2019 Legislature failed to renew a much-needed boost in funding for quality
measures and direct care staffing, nursing homes saw our Medicaid reimbursement
amounts cut, to the point where we’re losing over $27 per resident per day.
That may not sound like a lot, but when you add it up it’s over $637,000 for my
facility — and nursing homes across Florida are dealing with an average of $675,000
less per year. That has a real and direct impact on quality of care.
Florida
legislators have a chance in this new year to greatly improve the lives of so
many of our residents. Two out of three nursing home residents — roughly 46,000
people — rely on Medicaid to cover their long-term health care expenses, and
when funding fails to keep pace, it’s difficult to maintain the same level of
quality care these individuals expect and deserve.
It has
been four years since nursing homes received an increase in reimbursement
amounts to keep up with inflation. Including a funding increase in this year’s
budget will go a long way in helping us meet the ongoing needs of our
residents. We’ll have a greater ability to attract and hire qualified
caregivers and to pay current staff a more competitive wage for the care they
deliver — services that are essential to the residents but physically and
emotionally challenging for the caregivers. An increase would allow access to
the latest medical technologies and facility improvements that not only enhance
care but also enrich the lives of our residents.
Florida
is a national leader in high-quality care because of our qualified staff and
ability to work with modern resources in the most up-to-date facilities. It’s a
shame that our residents’ well-being is so closely tied to economics, but that
is the reality we face.
Florida’s
nursing home residents need the Legislature’s support in this year’s state
budget. These individuals are not numbers in a ledger — they are very real human
beings who have earned nothing short of the best we can offer to them.
Just ask
the families of our residents, and they will tell you about the enormous relief
they experienced when they found a place in their community that cared about
their loved one as much as they do. We want to continue providing that
excellent level of care, and Florida lawmakers can help that happen.
Anna
Fortune Cherubin is the administrator of Deerfield Beach Health and
Rehabilitation Center, a 194-bed skilled nursing care center serving Broward
County for over 45 years.
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