20 National Organizations Send Letter to White House, Congress on Provider Assessments

[LTCCareer.com]

20 National Organizations Send Letter to White House, Congress on Provider Assessments “Protect critical Medicaid funding from fiscal cliff deal for vulnerable Americans”

AHCA/NCAL, Michael Cowden [phone] NAPH, Carl Graziano [phone]

Washington, DC –Twenty national organizations and associations representing Medicaid recipients and health care providers today sent a letter to the White House and Congress urging that provider assessments be protected from fiscal cliff negotiations. Led by the American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) and the National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems (NAPH), the letter stipulates that reducing or eliminating Medicaid provider assessments would do little to reduce health care costs and only threaten access to quality care for seniors, children, individuals with disabilities and low-income families. “Provider assessments are a critical tool for states in bridging the gap between what Medicaid funds and what it actually costs to provide care,” said Mark Parkinson, President & CEO of AHCA/NCAL. “In skilled nursing centers, Medicaid underfunded providers by $6 billion when nearly two-thirds of residents rely on the program for their daily care. Tampering with provider assessments puts at risk skilled nursing centers’ ability to continue providing access to care for our frail seniors and individuals with disabilities.” “Cutting provider assessments hurts patients,” NAPH President and CEO Bruce Siegel, MD, MPH, said. “Congress and the administration must recognize that limiting this crucial funding stream will shift costs onto states – costs that will trickle down to providers and, ultimately, to millions of beneficiaries who rely on Medicaid.”

 

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