Nursing homes around the country have had to start bracing for possible Medicaid cuts in 2019. The Trump Administration is expected to announce deep cuts in the coming year. These cuts could reduce funding to Medicaid and Medicare by $1 trillion over the next 10 years. These cuts could threaten the bottom line of many nursing home facilities. Nevertheless, nursing homes remain dedicated to delivering the highest standard of care to their residents.
Threats of Medicaid Cuts Are Overblown
Sen. Ron Wyden is one of the many critics that has spoken out against Medicaid cuts for nursing homes. He called the expected cuts “draconian” and warned that they might reduce some nursing homes’ ability to serve their residents. “We’ll see proposed another draconian cutback on Medicaid,” Wyden told reporters. “Medicaid helps cover costs for two out of three seniors in nursing homes. I’m going to fight this proposal with everything I’ve got, because it would turn back the clock on efforts to improve care and it would inevitably lead to more nursing homes closing their doors, which would especially work a hardship in rural America.” However, many others are less pessimistic. Many observers argue that it is remarkable that nursing homes are doing such an excellent job, despite worsening financial conditions with Medicaid patients.
Medicaid Cuts Are a Concern – But Nursing Homes Continue to Prosper
One of my colleagues lives in New Hampshire. The Concord Monitor, one of the most popular newspapers in that state, published an article that he recently shared with me about prospective Medicaid cuts that could hit major nursing homes. The article pointed out that the federal government currently pays less than 50% of the Medicaid costs for nursing home residents. Future Medicaid cuts could cause more issues. Fortunately, nursing homes have proven that they can keep offering excellent service, regardless of cuts to Medicaid. Here are some ways that they continue to deliver exceptional care to their patrons.
Making sure that nursing home administrators are impeccably trained
Caring Advisor senior living say that nursing home administrators play a very important role in ensuring their facilities offer great service at a reasonable cost. Their skillsets become even more important in the face of severe Medicaid cuts. When the federal or state government cuts Medicaid funding, sound nursing home administrators become even more important. They need to use their knowledge to cleverly cut costs without compromising care.
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Using crossover skills to minimize redundancy
Employee expenses account for a significant share of overall nursing home costs. Some of these wages are wasted on redundant functions. Employees might spend time sitting idly, because another employee was hired with similar skillsets and handles most of the responsibilities in their job description. This can be a very serious drain on the organization’s coffers. These wasteful expenditures might go unnoticed during a strong economy. However, they could lead to terrifying cost overruns during a funding crisis. Nursing homes recognize that they might have been too lax about looking at the bottom line during sounder financial times. As Medicaid cuts become more certain, they are going to need to be a lot more cautious. They will have to start looking for ways to remove redundant labor.
Use new technology to improve operational efficiency
Technology has been a defining force in every industry for the past 30 years. Nursing homes are no exception. One of the biggest benefits of new technology is that it helps organizations operate more cost-efficiently. This is going to be even more important for nursing homes as Medicaid cuts threaten their cash flow.
Nursing homes are finding brilliant ways to stay solvent in the face of destructive Medicaid cuts
Medicaid cuts certainly pose a problem for many nursing homes. However, they have found clever ways to help stave off the problem. This is going to mitigate the risk they face and in sure they continue delivering great care to their customers for years to come.