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.

FHCA Provider Program - Progress on PPS & Managed Care

Members from Clear Choice Health Care joined FHCA at the Capitol Thursday for a special Lobby Day focused on the managed care priority. Watch how their visits helped advance the Senate Bill 682 by Sen. Kelli Stargel, which exempts long-stay residents from the Medicaid managed care system.

FHCA Provider Program - April 7, 2017

At the halfway mark of the legislative session, FHCA held a press event on the Prospective Payment System with over 100 of its members in town for Lobby Wednesday, who also testified and waived in support as the Senate Appropriations Committee took up the vote. Certificate of Need and Managed Care were also significant topics of discussion on the House side.

House Bill Would Give Managed Care Companies Ability to Dictate How Nursing Centers are Reimbursed

Emmett Reed, executive director of the Florida Health Care Association, issued the following statement after the House Health and Human Services Committee addressed the reimbursement system for skilled nursing centers in proposed committee bill 17-03:

“While we are pleased the committee recognizes the importance of ensuring that skilled nursing centers receive prompt reimbursement for the crucial services they provide to elders, we remain deeply troubled by language in the bill that would require our centers to negotiate rates with managed care companies. Nursing center care for Medicaid residents is already significantly underfunded, and giving managed care companies the ability to reduce those rates even further would jeopardize the care of our state’s seniors. Centers would be left with no choice but to cut services that our residents depend on to enhance their quality of life. 

“Today’s reimbursement system fails to adequately reward nursing centers for providing high quality care, for being efficient users of tax dollars, and for investing in improvements to their facilities. Florida’s seniors, and the providers who care for them, would be best served by the prospective payment system that provides strong incentives for quality and a multi-year transition period to give providers time to adapt. This approach was adopted yesterday by the Senate Appropriations Committee, and we urge the House to move in a similar direction.”