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State Representative Jeanne Poppe
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-4193
For more information contact: Sandy Connolly 651-296-8877
NEWS COLUMN
LEGISLATION BEING CONSIDERED THAT WILL HELP AREA NURSING HOMES
As our friends and family members age, we are often faced with the difficult decision of how to best care for them. Many times, extended care in a nursing home is the best option, where we trust they will receive loving and respectful care. We become secondary caretakers in their lives, as the staff of the nursing home assumes responsibility for not just their physical needs, but their emotional and social needs, as well.
A few years back, the state legislature froze the payment rates to nursing homes because of the budget deficit. In addition, another $32 million was trimmed from payments nursing homes traditionally received. An accounting firm reported at the time that one in four of Minnesota's 402 nursing homes is at risk of closing because of financial losses. In the past ten years, well over 30 have closed, with as many as six more at risk before the end of the year.
Nursing home staff pay a price, as well. There are fewer staff persons with greater responsibility and greater numbers for whom to care. After three years without even an inflationary pay increase, in 2005 we succeeded in giving them a cost of living adjustment. Still, their wages lag behind the wages of hospital staff and other caregivers. As the result, nursing homes cite the inability to retain good staff as one of their top challenges.
One of the proposals we are considering is a bill that will provide a 6 percent increase in funding to nursing homes this year, with a 7 percent increase the following year. Seventy-five percent of this increase is earmarked for direct care workers, with the remaining 25 percent given to the provider.
In addition, the bill stipulates that reimbursement rates for rural nursing homes be no less than 90% of the reimbursement for metro nursing homes. This gap in funding has not been adjusted since 1983, when a metro, rural and deep rural payment structure was created. As the result, metro nursing home reimbursement rates continue to rise, with rural homes receiving less and less.
This bill would be funded through the creation of a 4th income tax tier, with upper level taxpayers paying a slight tax increase that will be designated to nursing homes.
Several other bills are being introduced, also, including one that offers a 5 percent increase in each of the next two years, one that will equalize the reimbursement rate for metro and rural nursing homes, and another that will raise the rate for nursing homes in our area to the rate being paid in Olmsted County. Committees will hear these bills and hopefully, the best ideas will be merged into a final comprehensive package. I look forward to voting on a nursing home bill that will offer a significant funding increase to Minnesota's nursing homes, and especially the homes caring for our family members in Greater Minnesota.
Please feel free to contact me at any time - I can be reached by phone at 1-888-682-3180 or 1-651-296-4193, by mail at 487 State Office Building, 100 Martin Luther King Blvd., St. Paul, MN 55155 or via e-mail at rep.jeanne.poppe@house.mn. If you are interested in receiving my session e-newsletter, please email me and your name will be added to our list.
News Items
- POPPE SELECTED AS AGRICULTURE POLICY COMMITTEE CHAIR - (Posted: 2012-11-16 00:00:00)
- Rep. Jeanne Poppe Encourages High School Juniors to Apply for Minnesota House of Representatives Page Program - Application Deadline is November 19th - (Posted: 2012-11-12 00:00:00)
- HORMEL INSTITUTE EXPANSION SIGNED INTO LAW - 2012 legislative session adjourns sine die - (Posted: 2012-05-11 00:00:00)
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