Miami Nursing Center Residents to Lawmakers - PPS Adds Value to Our Care

Residents and caregivers from Miami Jewish Health Systems visited Rep. Carlos Trujillo's district office Wednesday to promote the message that reimbursing nursing centers through Prospective Payment System (PPS) would add VALUE the quality care they receive. 

The PPS plan is part of the state budget that lawmakers in Tallahassee will vote on to close out the 2017 legislative session. 

“We pride ourselves on the exceptional services our residents are experiencing, said Luci Loureiro, Director of Therapeutic Programs for Miami Jewish Health Systems. "Therapy is an important component to improving our residents' health outcomes, and we're excited about a system that funds our center based on the quality improvements we're making every day in our residents' care."

Florida nursing centers are currently reimbursed using a cost-based system. Miami Jewish Health Systems, the state's largest not-for-profit nursing center 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.

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

Nursing Centers Have Much to Gain from Switching to a Prospective Payment System

By Greg Forbes
Signature HealthCARE of Orange Park

A prospective payment system encourages quality improvement in nursing centers across the state. This is vital because improvement should not be limited to specific centers – we should never assume a nursing center is the best it will ever be. We should all strive to offer better care than we do, whether it is through foundational improvement in staffing or through innovative quality improvement projects.

Either way, the money is doing more than just reimbursing for cost of services. It is incentivizing improvement and giving centers a way to address quality issues that might otherwise affect the care they deliver to their residents. Both lower and higher quality nursing centers have much to gain from switching to this plan, which means so do their residents.

That is why there is a consensus within the nursing center community in support of a switch to a prospective payment system, and we encourage legislators to support it as well.

PPS Incentivizes Nursing Centers to Raise Level of Quality

By Katie Berzowski
Heritage Park Care and Rehabilitation Center in Bradenton

Quality care for our loved ones in nursing centers should not be an afterthought, it should be a priority. That is why I support a prospective payment system for nursing center reimbursement.

With this type of reimbursement system, Medicaid dollars would be put to encouraging improvement in nursing facilities, which leads to enhanced care for seniors. Reimbursement would go to updating therapy equipment, improving the nutrition of seniors, and increasing room size, factors that make a difference in their standard of living. We all want our loved ones to be cared for in a center where they are comfortable and receiving efficient care, and this system incentivizes nursing centers across the state to rise to that level of quality.

Legislators should take advantage of this innovative approach to reimbursement and implement a prospective payment system to ensure that quality care of our elders always come first.

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.