Washington, DC – The American Health Care Association (AHCA), the National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL), and the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care commend Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Democratic Steering & Policy Committee Co-Chairs George Miller (D-CA) and Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), and Congressional leaders for hosting yesterday’s forum focusing on our nation’s economic recovery.
AHCA/NCAL and Alliance leadership call on House leaders to consider the role that long term care plays in local economies nationwide, and encouraged Congress to include initiatives that support long term care in economic recovery legislation. Issuing a statement in reaction to the forum, the groups say, “The long term care sector is a significant contributor to the economic health of communities nationwide, and its stability is vital to stimulate economic growth, especially as the demand for long term care services continues to grow.”
Excerpts of the statement include: “We look forward to the release of economic recovery legislation, which we hope will include initiatives that support the current long term care workforce and prioritize retraining to fill the 110,000 currently vacant direct care-giving positions, increased Medicaid assistance for the states that includes timely reimbursement for services, resources to make interoperable health information technology systems a reality for post-acute providers as well as hospitals and doctors, and capital funding for physical plant, infrastructure and technology to upgrade and replace aging facilities that no longer match the needs and expectations of the American consumer.
Presently, long term care accounts for 1.1 percent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product[1] (GDP) – $144.3 billion annually – with substantial economic impact in nearly every community across the country. With long term care facilities employing 2.9 million individuals, the long term care sector represents one of the few growth areas in the U.S. economy – a fact underscored in recent testimony by the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics Keith Hall. The Bureau’s testimony emphasizes the fact that health care – and long term care specifically – is an area of job growth that could advance economic recovery.
Medicaid is the largest payer of long term care in the United States with nearly 65 percent of nursing home residents and 12 percent of individuals in assisted living communities relying on Medicaid to pay for the care they need. As 70 percent of long term care operational costs are labor related, any boost in Medicaid funding could have an immediate impact on job retention and growth. Specifically, the inclusion of an enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) in an economic stimulus package will help to stave off cuts to states’ Medicaid programs that are vital to vulnerable populations and to those who are suffering in this weakened economy.
We also applaud efforts to build an integrated health care information technology system that allows providers to communicate crucial patient care information across health care settings…. Finally, we support efforts to invest quickly in necessary capital projects – physical plant, infrastructure and technology – and strongly encourage extending such investments to long term care providers.”
The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL) represent nearly 11,000 non-profit and proprietary facilities dedicated to continuous improvement in the delivery of professional and compassionate care provided daily by millions of caring employees to 1.5 million of our nation's frail, elderly and disabled citizens who live in nursing facilities, assisted living residences, subacute centers and homes for persons with mental retardation and developmental disabilities. For more information, please visit www.ahca.org or www.ncal.org.