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The Texas Nursing Home Quality Act

Aug 01 2019

The Texas Nursing Home Quality Act (SB 1050 and HB 3342) would make Texas a leader in quality-based payments in nursing home care. The pending legislation is designed to bring federal tax dollars back to Texas while providing incentive based additional funding to nursing home facilities.  The program differs from the programs in operation in other states by tying the additional funding to nursing home innovation and improvements, and does so without adding to the state budget.

 

The legislation, now pending in committee, is designed to address the underfunding issue that currently impacts nursing homes in Texas.  The Texas Health Care Association calculates the average loss to nursing homes at $27 per day for each resident receiving Medicaid benefits. With this growing gap between what is paid and what should be paid for a resident’s vital care, short falls have placed an estimated 25% of Texas nursing homes at risk of sale or closure, created high staff turnover rates, and impacted the quality of care for seniors.

 

Passage of the Texas Nursing Home Quality Act is supported by industry insiders as a way to address this funding crisis by creating and operating a health care provider participation program. Under the program, Medicaid reimbursement rates would increase and additional compensation would be available to long-term care providers who meet quality requirements and nationally recognized performance standards.  The current legislation provides financial incentives for  participation by increased reimbursement rates and additional funding based upon demonstrated historical expenditures for capital improvements, renovations, and other enhancements designed to create a more home-like environment, increase staff wages and benefits, and improve other direct care services.  The legislation provides incentives for meeting performance standards under a five-star quality rating system, increasing direct care staffing and for programming to address unique, long-term care needs.

 

The text of the proposed Nursing Home Quality Act (SB 1050 and HB 3342) is available at: https://legiscan.com/TX/text/SB1050/id/1928132

https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/86R/billtext/html/HB03342I.htm

 

Status of the pending legislation can be followed at:

https://legiscan.com/TX/bill/SB1050/2019

https://legiscan.com/TX/bill/HB3342/2019

This post was written by Attorney Rebecca Hall.

Reference materials:

Texas Health Care Association, “86th Legislative Agenda: Solve the Nursing Home Medicaid Funding Shortfall To Enhance Quality Care,” https://txhca.org/legislative-priorities

 

Texas Health Care Association, “Texas Nursing Homes Are In Trouble And This Is One Crisis We Can Avoid,”  https://txhca.org/senior-care-crisis

 

Warren, Kevin (April 28, 2019), “It’s more personal than you know,” https://www.expressnews.com/opinion/commentary/article/It-s-more-personal-than-you-know-13796393.php

Texas Health Care Association (February 26, 2019), “Legislation Returns Federal Dollars To Texas, Links Payments to Improving Care.” https://www.prweb.com/releases/thca_sen_hughes_says_sb_1050_is_game_changer_for_quality_of_care_in_texas_nursing_homes_without_costing_the_state/prweb16129879.htm

 

Written by Carolyn Sweet · Categorized: General Updates, Medicaid, State Specific, Texas

Stotler Hayes Group, LLC is a national, boutique law firm focused on optimizing recovery for health care providers through Medicaid, Medicare, private collections, training and education. Our attorneys are licensed in, and represent clients before, federal and state courts and agencies in a majority of states around the country.

In the handful of states where Stotler Hayes Group, LLC does not employ a full-time attorney, referrals are made to local counsel, many of whom we have developed close working relationships with over the years. In those cases, our firm works with local counsel throughout the pendency of the case.

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Principal Office: Pawley’s Island, SC, Phone: 843-235-9871; Fax: 888-497-7390; email: info@stotlerhayes.com

This website is for informational purposes only. Please remember that every case is different. Any result we achieve for one client in one matter does not necessarily indicate similar results can be obtained for other clients.

The attorney responsible for the content of this website is Andrea Kirksey, Esq., Executive Director and General Counsel for Stotler Hayes Group, LLC, 297 Willbrook Boulevard,  Pawley’s Island, South Carolina.

She may be contacted at (843) 235-9871, ext. 1002 or at akirksey@stotlerhayes.com.

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