Legislature should fund nursing home services, avert crisis

Years of inadequate and severe underfunding of nursing home services by our state could leave tens of thousands of older Missourians without adequate support at the most vulnerable point in their lives.

While Medicaid is best known for insuring our low-income citizens, it also provides a vital safety net to seniors and people with disabilities who struggle with debilitating physical impairments and chronic medical conditions that require highly specialized 24-hour care in a skilled nursing home.

The state forced a 3.5 percent cut to the reimbursement rate for seniors who depend on Medicaid to help cover the cost of their nursing home care in July. As a result, state general revenues now only contribute an average $15.26 per person per day toward care. Even adding federal matching funds, the average Missouri reimbursement rate falls $25 short of the average cost for a day of nursing home care.

The reduced rate is making it impossible for nursing homes to sustain the highly regulated care that is mandated and necessary to properly care for these individuals. As president and chief executive officer of The Chateau Girardeau, this greatly concerns me.

The Chateau Girardeau is this area's leading non-profit retirement community, providing a continuum of care that allows residents to "age in place." This means residents can remain in our community as their needs change.

I am responsible for some 250 residents and the 210 employees who provide their care. Many of our residents utilize Medicaid. These are citizens who worked hard, raised their families and did their best in life.

As people live longer, retirement savings aren't stretching as far as many anticipated. They still deserve the assurance of quality medical care in a safe environment.

We take great pride in providing highly specialized daily care, but the state cannot operate at a deficit and neither can providers in our field. Without immediate action by the Missouri lawmakers, nursing homes will be forced to limit the number of Medicaid recipients that they serve. Some will close, forcing citizens to leave the only community they have ever known in search of care.

This is the last thing someone who is frail and sick should have to worry about. It's why so many in our field are advocating for seniors by calling on lawmakers to adequately fund the Medicaid reimbursement rate for nursing home services.

I ask you to join me in urging Missouri lawmakers to protect this important safety net for our parents and grandparents. If we do not value our older citizens, then we are in trouble as a society.

Keith Boeller is president and chief executive of The Chateau Girardeau in Cape Girardeau.