West Virginia Considers Freezing Medicaid Payments to Nursing Homes To Offset Budget Deficit

To offset a projected $187 million deficit in West Virginia's Medicaid budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1, state HHS Secretary Paul Nusbaum on June 11 said that the program could save $8 million to $10 million by freezing reimbursement rates to nursing homes, the AP/Charleston Gazette reports. Nursing homes receive about 85% of their reimbursements from Medicaid and Medicare, according to John Alfano of the West Virginia Health Care Association. The Medicaid rates are reevaluated semi-annually in April and October. Nusbaum said that while freezing the rates will cause "pain" for nursing homes, "it won't be something that forces facilities either to shut down or impact the quality of care to any degree." But nursing homes, which are coping with increasing liability insurance premiums, said a rate freeze could "push them into bankruptcy." Last year, 40 homes in the state lost money, an industry spokesperson said (AP/Charleston Gazette, 6/12).