Image by Getty Images via @daylife
[Excerpt]
An 11.4 percent cut in Medicare payments to U.S. nursing homes takes effect this month, which, combined with a 6.5 percent rollback in state Medicaid reimbursements, will leave some Florida facilities with no way to meet payroll expenses.
Image by Getty Images via @daylife
Patients and their families can expect to see diminishing staff and disappearing amenities, from group therapy to housekeeping. But even more alarming, operators say, is the prospect of no beds available for the sickest patients, who need the highest — and most costly — levels of nursing.
As a result, hospitals will likely be forced to keep more people who could be cared for more comfortably and economically in nursing homes. This, critics say, amounts to both shortsighted fiscal planning and bad medicine.
Read more here: http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20111001/ARTICLE/111009967/2416/NEWS?Title=Nursing-homes-brace-for-cuts
