The Hill News

With the nation’s skilled nursing facility (SNF) sector already surviving on the lowest operating margins of all provider groups, facing $127 billion in Medicare funding cuts in the FY 2012-21 budget window, and reeling from a deep 11.1-percent Medicare funding reduction that went into effect late last year, facility job losses now occurring places the well being of seniors in clear and present danger.

The sheer weight of the federal Medicare funding pressures put on a sector where three of every four patients’ care is government-funded -- combined with state Medicaid cuts -- has destabilized America’s second largest health facility employer to an extent not experienced in more than a decade. Today’s economic stress on SNFs, more commonly known as nursing homes, is increasingly reminiscent of the 1997 Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA) aftermath, where facilities across the nation were forced to close. Some providers were even driven into bankruptcy, creat! ing access issues for seniors seeking intensive post-acute rehabilitative SNF care.

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