Action Preserves Beneficiary Access to High Quality Nursing Home Care;

Helps Preserve, Strengthen Intra-Facility Staffing Efforts



    JOPLIN, Mo., Aug. 7 /EMWNews/ -- Citing the substantial

benefit in protecting the nation's critical frontline-caregiver

infrastructure, the Coalition to Protect Senior Care (CPSC) today thanked

Senator Norm Coleman for helping to lead a successful, bipartisan effort in

Congress to stop the Bush Administration from moving forward with a new

regulation that would have cut Medicare-funded nursing home care by $4

billion over the next five years, and $770 million for FY 2009. The

Administration announced last week that the regulation would not go into

effect, and the success of Sen. Coleman in helping to prevent the Medicare

regulation from going into effect ensures Minnesota seniors will be

protected from cuts of $11.4 million next year.



    "With all of the seemingly endless public criticism of Washington, it

is essential to point out that Senator Coleman just played a successful,

pivotal role in helping roll back potentially disastrous $11.4 million

Medicare cuts for Minnesota's seniors," stated Lori Porter, a co-founder

and CEO of the National Association of Health Care Assistants, and a

founding member of the CPSC, based in Joplin, MO. "From the perspective of

front line caregivers who help make the key difference in patient outcomes,

Sen. Coleman deserves enormous thanks for stopping the Medicare changes

that were about to go into effect."



    Specifically, Sen. Coleman initiated a key letter to Health and Human

Services (HHS) Secretary Mike Leavitt warning the Bush Administration's

proposed Medicare regulation would "jeopardize the significant quality

improvements made by the skilled nursing facility (SNF) community in recent

years as well as the ability of nursing homes to continue caring for high

acuity patients. Because nursing homes rely on Medicare to make up for

chronic underfunding by the Medicaid program - an average of $13 per day

for every Medicaid beneficiary in nursing homes nationwide - it is

critically important that Medicare reimbursement remain fair and

consistent. We believe that if the Administration were to finalize its

proposed rule, the ability of providers to care for our nation's most

vulnerable population - the frail elderly and disabled - would be severely

threatened."



    "Strictly from a health policy standpoint, the cancellation of the

Medicare regulation is an outstanding development in terms of both meeting

seniors' changing health care needs and doing so in a manner that uses

Medicare funds most efficiently," Porter continued. "The intra-facility

staffing enhancement and quality improvement efforts so essential to the

continued provision of quality care can now continue to the benefit of

every Minnesota Medicare beneficiary."



    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 Executives (AANEX); the American

Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA); the American Physical Therapy

Association (APTA); the American Society of Health Care Administration

Executives (ASHCAE); 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; the

Coalition of Women in Long Term Care (COWL); and the Senior Clinician

Group.