At a time when there seems to be little good news for rurally located nursing homes, District 22B Rep. Rod Hamilton is doing his best to make sure there is some.
Hamilton, R-Mountain Lake, has proposed a bill that would increase reimbursement rates to nursing home facilities currently receiving the lowest payment amounts. The bill, House File 427, was amended last week onto a comprehensive long-term health care bill crafted by House Democrats. If Hamilton's bill remains part of the bigger legislation, Hamilton says "it would allow up to an additional six percent increase to the reimbursement rate and bring immediate help to Greater Minnesota's long-term care facilities."
The effort to hike reimbursement rates to nursing homes getting the lowest payments stems from there being a wide range of such rates around the state. Reimbursements can vary from by hundreds of dollars, and more often than not it's the metro care centers that garner benefits greater than those of their rural counterparts.
It may be argued that a reimbursement rate of six percent is not enough to help facilities whose operating costs are spiraling dangerously close to out of control. Getting any increase, however, should be cause for commendation, as there are seemingly never sure things when it comes to a legislature where metro-rural politics are often more prevalent than party politics.
The long-term care bill has many more committee stops before it finally comes up for a vote. Hamilton is confident of success; here's hoping he's right.
