Medicare Cuts Could Up Nursing Home Costs

[LTCCareer.com]

Nursing home residents may soon face higher costs and reduced services, as planned Medicare spending cuts take effect this fall.

It's an indirect -- and, some say, unanticipated -- consequence of more
routine cost-cutting for the nation's biggest health-care provider. On July 29,
the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that, starting in
October, it will begin cutting their reimbursement rates to nursing homes by
11.1% to make up for $4 billion shortfall last year. And while that doesn't
directly raise residents' costs, there may be pressure on nursing homes to make
up the shortfall somewhere, says Toby Edelman, a senior policy attorney with the
Center for Medicare Advocacy. Already the news has hurt shares of nursing home
companies, as investors worry that profits will shrink.  FULL ARTICLE