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New York Association of Homes & Services for the Aging

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Nursing Home Reps Call State Budget ‘Anti-Patient and Anti-Reform’
New Report Shows Devastating Impact of Proposed State Budget Cuts on Nursing Homes
(ALBANY, NY) – More than 6,000 New Yorkers will lose their jobs, efforts to reform the state’s health care system will
be reversed, more nursing homes will close and access and quality for all of the more than 300,000 people served in New
York’s nursing homes will be jeopardized if the $466 million in health care cuts proposed in the executive budget are
approved, according to a new report from the association representing New York’s not-for-profit and public nursing
homes.

“Our new NYAHSA report shows that the proposed state budget cuts can best be described as ‘anti-patient and antireform’,
said Carl S. Young, president of the New York Association of Homes & Services for the Aging. “It’s time
to stop the targeting of funding for senior services and put an end to the pattern of $3 billion in cuts to providers over
the past 10 years. We all must work together to make sure that New York’s seniors are not left out in the cold.”

Among the findings of the NYAHSA report, “Anti-Patient and Anti-Reform: The Proposed Nursing Home Budget
Cuts”, are:

+ The proposed state budget cuts have been portrayed by some as modest reductions. In fact, they would slash
Medicaid payments to the typical nursing home by seven percent with an average impact of $700,000 per facility;
+ Staffing makes up 60-80 percent of nursing home costs. Therefore, the cuts could trigger more than 6,000 layoffs
of direct care workers, such as aides, with the likelihood for thousands more, which will harm the care provided to
residents who need assistance with feeding, daily activities and therapy;
+ The cuts would undermine reform efforts underway to “rightsize” the number of nursing home beds and increase
community-based services;
+ The proposed cuts would lead to more unplanned facility closures, affecting access to care. More than 30 nursing
homes have closed in the last four years alone;
+ Nursing home finances continue to deteriorate. Facility operating losses were 120% larger in 2005 than in 2004;
+ New York already has the biggest gap in the nation between what Medicaid pays providers and the actual cost of
providing care, averaging a loss of $25 per resident per day for each Medicaid resident; and
+ Proposed budget cuts would gut the nursing home payment reform enacted in 2006. In 2007, the cuts are three
times as large as the reform benefits;

“New York’s not-for-profit, mission-driven and public continuing care providers have historically been the operators of
the state’s home care, senior housing and community-based services,” noted Young. “If the state makes it impossible for
them to survive, who will operate these programs that are an integral part of the proposed system reform?”
Copies of the NYAHSA report “Anti-Patient and Anti-Reform: The Proposed Nursing Home Budget Cuts” are available
by visiting the association’s Web site at www.nyahsa.org.

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Founded in 1961, the New York Association of Homes & Services for the Aging (NYAHSA) represents nearly 600 not-for-profit,
mission-driven and public continuing care providers, including nursing homes, senior housing, adult care facilities, continuing care
retirement communities, assisted living and community service providers.