Rural Virginia Struggles with Shortage of Home Health Providers for Medicaid Beneficiaries

The Richmond Times-Dispatch on May 20 profiles how a shortage of nursing aides in rural Virginia is impacting home care services under the state's Medicaid program. Although Medicaid beneficiaries who qualify for nursing home care are eligible for personal home care, rural areas are "reeling" from a declining number of aides. The problem, the Times-Dispatch reports, is related to low reimbursements that the private agencies that manage the home care workers receive from Medicaid. The state Department of Medical Assistance Services, which administers Virginia's Medicaid program, pays agencies in rural Virginia $11.25 per hour for home care. Because many home health workers are seeking higher-paying jobs elsewhere, some providers have turned to retired nurses to cover the shortage. Minnie McFarland, a registered nurse supervisor for the Bay Agency on Aging, said, "If the state doesn't do something to increase the amount aides can earn, I don't know how the personal care program is going to go on" (Booker, Richmond Times-Dispatch, 5/20).