Statement by Lou Wilson
Executive Director, NC Association of Long-Term Care Facilities
For more than 15 years, we have warned that North Carolina’s adult-care homes are in crisis. We hope that the complaint filed Tuesday by Disability Rights North Carolina will finally lead to action.
The responsibility lies with the State of North Carolina, which has refused for years to provide our homes with adequate funding to deal with aged, disabled and mentally ill residents.
North Carolina has many good adult-care homes providing a wide range of excellent services. The DRNC’s own visits confirmed this. The poor conditions cited in DRNC’s complaint are the exception, not the rule.
More than 94 percent of the homes in the state have received top ratings – either three or four stars – in the State of North Carolina’s new quality-rating system. Note: Not all homes are currently eligible for four stars, the highest rating. A four-star rating requires two consecutive ratings of 100 points or better, and many adult care homes have only been inspected one time.
Our industry stands ready to work with DRNC, the state and the federal government to help solve these problems. But we must have more resources:
- In the last five years, adult-care homes received only one increase in Medicaid reimbursement from the legislature – and that for only 19 cents a day.
- Our homes are the only Medicaid providers whose rates are set by the legislature, not DHHS.
- Our homes are paid only 65 percent of their Medicaid costs – the lowest of any Medicaid providers in the state.
- The rate we are paid is lower today than it was six years ago.
- The state is in effect using adult-care homes as a safety net for mentally ill residents, but refuses to give homes the resources to provide the care needed.
Just this year, the legislature cut from the budget a $9 million funding request submitted by Governor Perdue. That $9 million would have been a small step in the right direction.
The vast majority of owners, operators and staffs of adult-care homes are delivering outstanding services. But the state’s neglect inevitably hurts resident care.
It is time for the State of North Carolina to do right by the residents of adult-care homes. Perhaps now the federal government will force the state to act.
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