Ohio Shift on Medicaid Could Hit Nonprofit Nursing Homes

Ohio’s new budget adopts major changes in how the state’s Medicaid program covers long-term care, a shift that could mean deep cuts for nonprofit nursing homes, writes the Dayton Daily News.

In a move endorsed by the state’s AARP chapter, Ohio cut average Medicaid payments to nursing homes by 5.8 percent per patient while increasing spending on community-based services that provide home care to ill and elderly clients.

Greg Moody, head of Gov. John Kasich’s Office of Health Transformation, said the change gives more power to “to consumers choosing where they want to receive care.”

Robert Applebaum, who leads a research project on long-term care of Miami University’s Scripps Gerontology Center, said the change will probably mean job cuts at nonprofit homes, which tend to have more staff than their for-profit counterparts.

“Unfortunately, one of the important factors in quality is having more staff,” Mr. Applebaum said.

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