Nursing homes that care for the sickest of patients should have been paid more this year under a new Medicaid reimbursement formula. But because of state budget cuts, it didn't turn out that way.

CHRIS PEDOTA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

 

Jane Kaufman visiting her 102-year-old mother, Lillian Kaiser, at the Jewish Home at Rockleigh. Kaufman has written letters asking state officials to restore funds cut from Medicaid.  Instead, some nursing homes that had been slated for a substantial boost in reimbursements were warned last summer to brace for a 3 percent cut — only to be told in the autumn that their rates would be slashed by more than twice that proportion.

 

Like all things related to nursing-home finances, the reason is complicated — so much so that long-term center operators and their advocates were themselves caught off guard by the realization that a change meant to protect some nursing homes' bottom lines jeopardized others.

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