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Rell won't intervene in nursing home
talks
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| By: Keith M. Phaneuf,
Journal Inquirer Staff Writer |
January
29, 2005 |
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HARTFORD - Gov. M. Jodi Rell won't intervene
at this point in contract talks between more than 50 nursing homes
and nonprofit agencies and the state's largest health care workers
union.
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"I do not think
it is an appropriate role at this stage," the governor said Friday
in an interview with the Journal Inquirer.
New England Health
Care Employees Union District 1199 President Jerome P. Brown called
last week for Rell to get involved with talks regarding 34 nursing
homes and 22 nonprofit agencies. Together they employ about 6,400
union members with contracts that expire in March or
April.
"Those negotiations should continue," the governor said.
"When and if they have been exhausted, then we will look at this
again."
At the same time that Brown made his request last week,
Toni M. Fatone, executive vice president of the Connecticut
Association of Health Care Facilities, asked that Rell stay out of
the talks. Fatone's organization represents more 150 of the state's
roughly 180 for-profit nursing homes.
The union, which is asking
for a 5 percent wage hike and increased staffing in nursing homes,
also argued that the stability of struggling nursing homes across
Connecticut hinges on the governor and General Assembly approving a
plan to attract major new federal aid.
Nearly 20,000 nursing home
patients, roughly two-thirds of all patients in the state's 242
homes, have the bulk of their long-term care paid for by the state
and federal governments through the Medicaid program.
State
government spends more than $1 billion annually on nursing homes.
Close to another $1 billion is paid to private nonprofit agencies to
run an array of social service programs, including assistance for
the mentally retarded, treatment for drug addicts, rehabilitation
programs for inmates, and behavioral health programs for abused
children.
Over the last four years, more than 50 nursing homes in
Connecticut have closed, declared bankruptcy, or been placed under
state receivership.
Both the union and Fatone's organization
testified Friday in favor of a proposal to establish user fees
throughout nursing homes.
Essentially, it involves the state
collecting a $14 per-bed fee from all nursing homes to create a pool
of funds. One proposal calls for about $120 million in nursing home
funds to be collected, then combined with a nearly matching amount
from the state.
That total of roughly $240 million would be
redistributed to the nursing homes.
Because Medicaid is a joint
program between the state and federal governments, Connecticut is
eligible for about 50 cents of reimbursement for each dollar it
spends in this area. The state then could claim a new $240 million
"user-fee" expenditure, and receive $120 million from
Washington.
The net result of all of this back-and-forth is that
state government would break even and nursing homes would have an
extra $120 million in federal funds.
Similar user-fee systems
have been established in other states. If state officials approve a
plan here, it would have to be endorsed by the federal Center for
Medicaid and Medicare Services, which oversees such programs.
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| ©Journal
Inquirer 2005 |
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