THE PROBLEM
A 30% Increase for Prison Care vs. a 2.9% Increase for Nursing Home Care? Where Are Our Values?
Nursing home caregivers and all the staff who support quality care -- activities professionals, dietary, housekeeping, and maintenance workers -- are there for us, but Medicaid funding cannot keep pace with wage increases. A March report found that nursing homes led health care sectors with wage increases of 26.5% between February 2020 and September 2023 .
Yet the average Medicaid funding increase for nursing home care on July 1 was only 2.9% percent. Compare that to the 30% increase the state gave to New Hampshire prison nursing staff.
Medicaid Payments Untimely, Inadequate
Most nursing home residents in New Hampshire have their care paid for by Medicaid, and delays in the completion of Medicaid applications or processing can result in a nursing home provider carrying hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid bills.
There's no margin for this waiting game. According to a May report from the New England Public Policy Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, New Hampshire nursing homes had New England's second-worst median operating margin (at -5.2%) in 2022-23. It will now be the worst, as Rhode Island nursing home care is getting a 15% Medicaid increase.
Coupled with a too-small July 1 funding increase, delays in Medicaid payments are a recipe for bankruptcy. Policymakers must act to shore up the vital safety net of nursing home care!