Prospective Payment System Tied to Quality Health Outcomes

By Woodie Lee
Habana Health Care Center in Tampa

Implementing a reimbursement system that encourages quality care would protect the state’s frailest residents. With the hustle and bustle of this session coming to a close, legislators are proposing a prospective payment system that would, for the first time ever, establish a payment system tied to quality health outcomes.

At Habana Health Care Center, we support this system because we know it will encourage more facilities to make improvements that better residents’ lives. By incentivizing improvements to centers’ dining options, room sizes, and therapy equipment, the new prospective payment system will directly encourage more quality care for all nursing center residents.

I urge all lawmakers to support this reimbursement system and its potential to continue advancing quality in Florida’s nursing centers.

PPS Encourages Nursing Center Quality Care

By Daniel Frenden
Consulate Health Care of New Port Richey

With Florida’s Legislative Session coming to a close, it is imperative that as a community we are doing everything we can to remain active and speak up for significant issues. One of these issues would encourage nursing centers across the state to promote quality care, improving the lives of millions of Florida’s elders.

As Executive Director at Consulate Health Care of New Port Richey, I am proud to support this proposed reimbursement system for nursing centers because it will encourage centers like mine to make quality improvements that will better the lives of our residents. This prospective payment system would incentivize centers to continuously make improvements that would promote quality health outcomes.

We must encourage our elected officials to support this system and protect Florida’s aging seniors.

Senator Negron and the PPS Put Nursing Home Residents First

By Heather Langlais
Salerno Bay Health and Rehabilitation Center

A great deal has been said and written recently about the new Prospective Payment System (PPS) being considered by the Florida Legislature relating to nursing home reimbursements. A critical element struggling to be heard in the “winner-vs.-loser” debate is the well-being of the very seniors we serve. I am thankful to Senator Negron for having the vision to tackle this kind of comprehensive change.  

Rather than simply reimbursing nursing homes for the costs they incur, Senator Negron and his colleagues in the Florida Senate created a new system that will incentivize health care outcomes and the investments that are made to improve the quality of lives for our most frail citizens. Many homes like ours have been making these kinds of investments for years, despite the fact that reimbursement levels for Medicaid patients cover less than what it costs to care for them. Rarely are resources available to upgrade technology or common areas where families can visit in privacy and comfort.

The legislation being considered in Tallahassee smartly anticipates that some homes will need time to adjust to a new system. The three-year transition period and appropriation in the proposal will put us all on a level playing field. I’m thankful to Senator Negron for putting nursing home residents first, as he has always done. As they consider the state budget in these final days of session, the residents and caregivers at Salerno Bay Health and Rehabilitation Center want to encourage our legislative leaders to do the right thing. Pass a Prospective Payment System for nursing center reimbursement and make quality the focus for Florida’s oldest residents.

Prospective Payment System Serves Greater Good, Adds Value to Nursing Center Care

By Cliff Bauer
Miami Jewish Health Systems

I recently traveled to Tallahassee for discussions with my local legislators about the benefits of a prospective payment system, which is a method of nursing home reimbursement.  With over 30 years of senior management experience in health care management, I fully endorse this proposed change just as I had embraced the PPS change in Medicare hospital reimbursement earlier in my career.  

Miami Jewish is a not-for-profit organization that been providing long term care in South Florida for 77 years. With more than 420 beds, we are the largest nursing home on a single campus in Florida, and the largest single Medicaid provider in our field – almost 300 of our residents rely on Medicaid to cover their long-term health care needs.  

This new model will, for the first time ever, link the amount nursing homes are reimbursed to health quality outcomes. Our current system is arcane.

There is a larger moral imperative at play here. Government and nursing homes must embrace a system that focuses on patient quality and overall costs. We must drive VALUE in all health care. The PPS model   goes deeper than picking “winners” and “losers,” far more important than any individual home’s “bottom line.”

Current legislation serves the greater good by allowing more nursing homes to offer state-of-the-art facilities where families can comfortably visit, and where residents can benefit from technology upgrades and other improved services that greatly enrich their lives. The PPS proposal passed by the Florida Senate offers VALUE, so I hope legislators will see that value and include a PPS when they pass the final budget.

Like many other businesses, we exist in a competitive marketplace. In my experience, though, when the needs of our greatest generation are placed squarely in the forefront, we all benefit. 

Residents and Caregivers to Local Lawmakers: PPS Equals Quality!

Nursing center residents and caregivers around Florida paid a visit to legislators’ district offices today to urge the lawmakers to support a Prospective Payment System (PPS) for nursing center reimbursement. The PPS plan is under consideration in Tallahassee today as Senate and House members work out details to finalize the state budget before the 2017 legislative session is scheduled to end next Friday.

Residents and caregivers from numerous Gulf Coast Health Care centers visited legislators’ district offices to promote the message that “PPS Equals Quality.” Among the centers paying visits were:

·       DeBary Health & Rehabilitation Center (Representative Jason Brodeur – Sanford);

·       Margate Health & Rehabilitation Center (Senator Anitere Flores – Miami and Representative David Richardson – Miami Beach);

·       Royal Palm Health & Rehabilitation Center (Senator Kevin Rader – Boca Raton);

·       Salerno Health & Rehabilitation (Representative Gayle Harrell – Hobe Sound); and

·       Oakbrook Health & Rehabilitation (Senator Kathleen Passidomo – Naples).

“Quality is so important to what we do every day,” said Patti Spears, administrator of Oakbrook Health and Rehabilitation in Labelle. “With these visits, we’re really emphasizing to our senators and representatives that PPS equals quality, and at the end of the day, we have to care for our residents and put their interests first.” 

Florida nursing centers are currently reimbursed using a cost-based system. Gulf Coast Health Care is among the more than 550 Florida Health Care Association members that support a Prospective Payment System, which is designed to measure and reward centers for meaningful quality advancements and provide incentives for efficient use of taxpayer dollars.

The district office visits by residents and caregivers were planned to showcase the exceptional services being delivered in these centers and to encourage legislators to make quality the focus of Medicaid reimbursements for nursing center care.

To learn more about the Prospective Payment System for nursing center reimbursement, click here.

FHCA Wraps Up Lobby Wednesdays Advocating for PPS & Quality Care

FHCA hosted its final Lobby Wednesday of the 2017 session this week, with long term caregivers from Summit Care, Consulate Health Care, Blountstown Health and Rehabilitation Center and Gulf Coast Health Care meeting with legislators to discuss the prospective payment system and its tie to quality care. Lobby Wednesday sponsors Bouchard Insurance, HCPCS, Inc. and Medline Industries, Inc. also joined us to help advocate side by side with members.