The Poughkeepsie Journal looked into Medicaid reimbursement rates in New York state and found that it’s four times higher than other states. Since the federal government shares in the cost, that means residents of other states are funding these exorbitant rates. And the taxpayers of New York get to make up the difference. What’s worse, the high reimbursement rates appear to keep the developmentally disabled in large institutions rather than smaller group homes. Sad.
Introne, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s liaison on health care issues, said state officials were working with the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services “to analyze and resolve the matter.”
The new Medicaid reimbursement rate — $5,118 per resident per day, and more than four times higher than any other nationwide — is an outgrowth of a state-federal agreement that has allowed New York, since the 1980s, to still collect two-thirds of the federal reimbursement for every one of thousands of residents who are moved from state institutions to community homes. Once an incentive to downsize overcrowded institutions, the formula has instead hugely inflated institutional rates — and made institutions lucrative budget boosters.
The new rate amounts to $1,868,000 per person annually — paid half each by the state and federal governments — and is an estimated three to four times the actual cost of care. Locally, it applies to 137 residents at the former Wassaic Developmental Center in the Town of Amenia, now part of the Taconic Developmental Disabilities Service Office, who together generate $256 million a year in reimbursements.
Officials at the federal Medicaid agency confirmed Friday that talks were under way.
Read the whole thing. New York receives a whopping 17% of all federal funding for long term care of the developmentally disabled. I don’t see how it can be that much more expensive here in New York than anywhere else.
I’m also thinking that any efforts at reform will be met with resistance by the unions whose members staff these institutions.
Tags: institutions, Medicaid, national, new york, rates
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