Contact:
Jim Morrell, (202) 457-1110

ALLIANCE REACTS TO BUDGET RECONCILIATION BILL

WASHINGTON, DC - M. Keith Weikel, Chairman of the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care, released the following statement today, in reaction to the passage of the budget reconciliation bill in the U.S. House of Representatives:

"The Alliance wishes to thank the many Members of Congress, particularly Chairman Bill Thomas, who fought for Medicare beneficiaries and taxpayers throughout this process. Their hard work and determination has helped ensure that millions of seniors will continue to have access to the quality care they need and deserve.

"We are, however, disappointed the House and Senate conferees kept the original House provision on asset transfers intact. While this provision is designed to discourage individuals from abusing the Medicaid program, its effect will be to hold nursing homes accountable for the actions of individuals - ultimately increasing the amount of uncompensated care nursing homes have to absorb. Medicaid already underfunds nursing home patient care by $12.58 per patient per day.

"The Alliance is pleased that the conferees modified their 'bad debt' provision to ensure that uncollectible bad debt reimbursements will not be reduced. This was especially important to skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) because the overwhelming majority of SNF bad debt stems from Medicaid programs' failure to pay Medicare co-payments for dually eligible individuals and is not collectible. The Alliance continues to believe that the 75 percent rule, which is used to classify inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs), should be fully implemented. Therefore, we are grateful that the conferees chose not to move forward on a temporary rollback of this rule."

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The Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care is a coalition of 15 national skilled nursing providers who deliver care to hundreds of thousands of patients on a daily basis.