BUFFALO, NY — On Friday, 1199SEIU held a forum with local healthcare providers and legislators to call for an increase in Medicaid reimbursement rates in hopes of being able to pay staff more and keep facilities open.
"Medicaid rates, in upstate, in particular are not high enough to cover the cost of care," said Todd Hobler, Vice President of 1199 SEIU.
The reimbursement rates are used to pay healthcare providers for giving care to those who are enrolled in medicare insurance.
According to United Healthcare Workers East, the average daily Medicaid rate in Western New York is $214, well below the statewide average of $248.
The union says 90% of nursing homes in Western New York are below the state's median rate.
"Catholic Health in the past year has lost $175 million supporting the unfunded care that we've been providing the nursing homes, and they have lost $26 million in the care that we provide and spent over $10 million on agency staff to make sure that we have the staff, to meet the staffing ratios that are needed to care for our residents," said Patricia O'Connor, Catholic Health Vice Preside of LTC Operations.
Many healthcare workers say they are worried about the future.
"Makes me feel terrible because these people, these residents, are our neighbors, our aunts and uncles, and these are people that we can identify with. So it makes you feel bad because they're like family. So we want to do the best that we can, taking care of them, that the legislators need to consider," said Nell Robinson, LPN for Weinberg Campus.
United Healthcare Workers say in the last 15 years the cost to provide care has risen over 40%, the union says the current Medicaid rates only cover 76% of the cost of providing care.
7 News Reporter Jaurdyn Johnson reached out to the New York State Department of Health and received this statement:
"The five percent increases in Medicaid reimbursement rates for hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living providers proposed in Fiscal Year '24 Executive Budget would be the largest rate increase in two decades and represents a transformational change that helps stabilize our healthcare system."
