Storm damage left the 50-bed New Richland Care Center closed for three months last fall. The facility still received a $20,000 state surcharge for the number of beds it holds even though it was not housing anyone while it was closed for repair.
Sponsored by Rep. Joe Schomacker (R-Luverne) and Sen. Julie Rosen (R-Fairmont),
HF937/
SF626* would make sure nursing homes do not receive a bed surcharge for the time they are closed or evacuated for flooding or other natural disasters.
As amended, the bill was approved 126-0 by the House April 14. The Senate, tabled the amended version April 18.
Also included in the legislation is language that modifies the criteria and process under which the commissioner of health, in coordination with the commissioner of human services, may approve the addition of new licensed and certified nursing home beds. A moratorium currently exists on new nursing home beds in Minnesota.
At one time, the state averaged 95 nursing home beds per 1,000 people over age 65. The Department of Human Services realized the industry overbuilt and in recent years that average has dropped by one-third. The national average nursing home beds per 1,000 people over the age of 65 is 41, said Bob Held, director of the department’s Nursing Facility Rates and Policy Division. He said a disparity of available nursing home beds exists across the state. The bill would allow the departments of health and human services to establish the criteria to be used to determine if an area of the state is encountering a hardship with regard to access to nursing facility services and whether that area can add new beds.
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