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Nation's front line Caregivers say new CMS
rule undermines care needs of America's
oldest, sickest Seniors…$5
Billion Medicare cut undercuts developing
Clinical Infrastructure needed to maximize
facility care quality
JOPLIN, Mo., May 5
/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Coalition to
Protect Senior Care (CPSC) today expressed
its strong opposition to a newly-issued rule
promulgated by the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services (CMS) which, by regulatory
means, will cut Medicare-financed nursing
home funding by $5 billion over five years.
This funding cut, the
frontline caregiver group warns, will
undermine the growing complex care needs of
America's oldest, sickest nursing home
patients, and undercut ongoing improvements
in the clinical infrastructure already
underway now benefitting patients.
"The new CMS directive is
frustrating to America's front line
caregivers because its net impact will be to
reverse a federal policy that is currently
benefitting elderly patients," said Lisa
Cantrell, a co-founder of the National
Association of Health Care Assistants, and a
national spokesperson for the Coalition to
Protect Senior Care.
"It is frustrating to
stand by and be forced to watch health
policy in Washington change course in
mid-stream -- especially when the policy
that is supposedly being 'fixed' is, in
fact, working," she continued. "We urge CMS
to reconsider and reverse this new policy,
and we will be encouraging Congress to voice
rightful, strong dissent."
Cantrell said that as the
nature of America's skilled nursing facility
(SNF) patient population continues to evolve
due to demographic and policy changes, the
federal government's role should be to help
facilities' direct care staff treat the
high-acuity individuals increasingly seen in
facilities nationwide.
Moreover, Cantrell warned,
the direct care staff that help make the key
difference in quality outcomes will also be
harmed by the CMS action.
"These funding cuts will
further put at risk a facility's ability to
sustain caregiver wage and benefit packages
that are already on the margin of being
uncompetitive with other service-oriented
professions," Cantrell warned.
"This is bad policy
from CMS, and it is in need of swift
correction based on simple common sense and
what is best for patients and caregivers."
The Coalition to Protect
Senior Care consists of the American
Association for Long Term Care Nursing (AALTCN);
the American College of Health Care
Administrators (ACHCA); the American
Association of Nurse Assessment Coordinators
(AANAC); the National Rural Health
Association (NRHA); The American Association
of Nurse Assessment Coordinators (AANAC)the
American College of Health Care
Administrators (ACHCA); the American
Physical Therapy Association (APTA); the
American Society of Health Care
Administration Executives (ASHCAE); ASHCAE
state affiliate members representing
Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa,
Kansas, Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico,
New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Texas and
Utah; the American Health Care Association (AHCA);
the American Health Quality Association (AHQA);
the National Association for the Support of
Long Term Care (NASL); the National
Association of Health Care Assistants (NAHCA);
the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care;
and the Senior Clinician Group.
Source:
Coalition to Protect Senior Care
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