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New York Association of Homes & Services for the Aging

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Legacy Doc ID# 14403502

For Release:  IMMEDIATE  March 7, 2005

Contact:  Daniel Curran 518-449-2707, ext. 124 518-369-6890 (cell)

“Situation:  Critical” Representatives Say of New York’s Nursing Homes
New Report Shows Status of Nursing Home Finances in New York State

(ALBANY, NY) – Representatives of New York’s nursing homes told state legislators today that the future of nursing homes in the state is uncertain and the growing threat of proposed Medicaid budget cuts puts facilities and residents in a critical situation.

The representatives, members of theNew York Association of Homes &Services for the Aging, which represents not-for-profit, mission-driven and public providers, told members of the Senate and Assembly the news as they issued a report on nursing home finances during NYAHSA’s annual legislative day. The new report shows proposed state budget cuts would cut payments by hundreds of thousands of dollars per facility, virtually guaranteeing fiscal doom for the more than 140 financially vulnerable nursing homes in the state.

“If I were a doctor and New York’s nursing homes were my patient, I would say their condition is critical,” said Carl S. Young, president of NYAHSA.  “The more than $500 million in Medicaid cuts proposed in the state budget threaten quality and access for all New Yorkers--not just Medicaid recipients--who need long term care services."

NYAHSA’s “Situation Critical:  New York’s Nursing Homes Face Growing Threat,” shows more nursing homes are slipping into serious financial distress than ever before. The report’s major findings include:

1. If all of the nursing homes in the state were considered as one nursing home, that facility would have been unable to cover its operating expenses with operating revenues.

2. Less than half of the nursing homes in the state have enough cash to cover three weeks of operations.

3. Nursing homes considered financially disadvantaged experienced the most severe declines in 2003.

4. Rural nursing homes, often the only providers in their communities, were in worse financial health than their urban counterparts.

5. The Medicaid cuts in the proposed 2005-06 state budget would increase the operating loss for a typical nursing home by almost 800 percent.

“In 2004’s legislative session, lawmakers took beginning steps towards reform and we must do everything within our power to keep the momentum going,” said Young. “Actions must be taken to ensure that our state's frail elderly and disabled citizens have a full range of long term care services available to them today and into the future. It can be accomplished, but not if we gut the system with the proposed cuts.”

“SituationCritical:  New York’sNursing Homes Face Growing Threat” is based on a detailed and comprehensive analysis of three years’ worth of certified financial statements from over 500 nursing homes – not-for-profit, proprietary and public facilities – based in New York state.

Copies of this report and others are available at www.nyahsa.org.

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Founded in 1961, the New York Association of Homes and Services for the Aging is the only statewide organization representing the entire continuum of not-for-profit, mission-driven and public continuing care, including nursing homes, senior housing, adult care facilities, continuing care retirement communities, assisted living providers, and community service providers.  NYAHSA’s nearly 650 members serve an estimated 500,000 New Yorkers of all ages annually.