LONG-TERM CARE:
LTC Industry Challenges MedPAC On Recommendations
Published on Sat Feb 19, 2005
Stingy inflation policy threatens quality care.
Long-term care industry groups are taking aim at the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission's formal recommendation that Congress not give an annual inflation update to long-term care providers.
Reasonable Medicare inflation adjustments - along with long-term care funding stability and an acknowledgment of the relationship between Medicare and Medicaid - are the "critical policy prescriptions" necessary for the industry to maintain recent quality improvements, says American Health Care Association president and CEO Hal Daub.
Quality Control Head: Funds Must Be Maintained
"Quality and economic stability go hand in hand," notes Stephen Guillard, chair of the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care and CEO of Harborside Healthcare.
"Recent reports and data clearly indicate that the long-term care sector will have trouble sustaining the blow of another major hit in funding," Guillard relays.