PHCA Response to Wolf Administration Installing Temporary Management in Nine Nursing Facilities

HARRISBURG — W. Russell McDaid, President and CEO of the Pennsylvania Health Care Association, issued the following statement in response to the Wolf administration’s announcement that they have installed temporary management at nine Skyline Healthcare Facilities because the company could no longer fiscally operate the facilities.

“The top priority of every nursing facility in Pennsylvania is the safety and well-being of their residents and the hard-working individuals that provide their care.

“For the past several years, PHCA has been talking about how the Medicaid shortfall continues to be the single biggest challenge facing Pennsylvania’s nursing facilities and that without adequate funding, the long-term care safety net will not be available for those who need it the most. We are beginning to see that safety net erodes with more than 100 nursing facilities in Pennsylvania having declared bankruptcy, been put into receivership, changed ownership or undergone a reorganization.

“Roughly two-thirds of all skilled nursing facility residents rely on Medicaid to pay for their care. According to the most recent DHS published rates, effective April 1, the average PA nursing facility is reimbursed at $47.36 per Medicaid resident per day less than their cost of providing care as established in our ‘case mix’ rate setting regulations. Statewide, the facility-specific Medicaid shortfall per resident per day ranges from $34.93 to $109.60.  Daily shortfalls of this magnitude are unsustainable and will continue to erode the quality of and access to care in Pennsylvania’s nursing facilities rapidly without increases in Medicaid funding.

“This shortfall is particularly damaging to for-profit facilities, which take on a higher amount of Medicaid patients (76%) than nonprofit facilities (59%), where more residents pay privately at rates that help offset their losses on Medicaid.”