Iowa Nursing Homes Decline Assisted Living Grants

Many Iowa nursing homes are hesitant to participate in a four-year, $80 million program of grants to help nursing homes construct assisted living facilities because they fear that accepting the grants would limit the amount of money that they could charge patients, the AP/Omaha World Herald, 8/9). Iowa's Senior Living Trust Fund offers nursing homes up to $45,000 for each assisted living apartment that they build. In exchange, the state requires the homes to set aside 40% of the new apartments for "low-income, Medicaid-dependent" people, and the remaining 60% must be filled with people who meet state requirements for "affordable" housing. The grant requirements "limi[t]" homes' ability to offset losses from treating Medicaid beneficiaries by charging higher rates to "private-pay" residents, the AP/World-Herald reports. The state expects to grant "only" $10.6 million this year, as some of the homes already approved for the grants have "chang[ed] their minds" and declined the money. Steve Ackerson of the Iowa Healthcare Association, which represents nursing homes, said, "With the staffing ratios [nursing homes] wanted to have and with this definition of affordability, it just didn't look like [the grant] was going to cover their costs, so they couldn't go through with the project." The state Department of Human Services will set new guidelines for the next round of grants over the next few weeks (AP/Omaha World-Herald, 8/9).