Health care costs remain a legislative concern

(Photo by Russ Mitchell) State Sen. David Johnson and state Rep. Mike May were on hand to hear the concerns of long-term health care providers as part of a 2007 Legislative Forum held Monday on the Longhouse-Northshire campus.

Medicare reimbursements remain an issue regional lawmakers will keep an eye on and it was a focus of discussion at the 2007 Legislative Forum held Monday at the Longhouse-Northshire campus.

Steve Ackerson, executive director of the Iowa Health Care Association and Iowa Center for Assisted Living's presentation included details about how Iowa providers are near the bottom nationally for per-beneficiary Medicaid reimbursement payments.

"I think we're 47th in the nation in reimbursements and that really, really hurts rural Iowa" state Rep. Mike May said. "We simply can't attract the folks that we need and the business investments we need in here" whether it comes to a nursing home facility or a modified care facility. It simply needs to be reimbursed at a fair rate in terms of costs. If we can get to that point" if we can get our federal officials to act on that one" they could help us a great deal."

May was joined Monday at the Longhouse-Northshire campus in Spencer by state Sen. David Johnson. Ackerson's group represents about 75 percent of the state's long-term care organizations and about 80 percent of the state's privately-owned entities.

"We have about 30,000 employees in our buildings and we take care of about 42,000 Iowa seniors every day," Ackerson said of his clients. "We're very proud of our job."

His organization also serves about 83 percent of all long-term residents using Medicaid.

"The reimbursements the state provides for services is always at the top of my list of priorities," Johnson said. "That cuts across the entire health care and long-term system. Dollars are going to be tight this next session, but it is a matter of where we put our priorities. In a number of ways, issues that are important to older Iowans, I believe, have a better chance of being acted upon than in the past."

Johnson also hopes to see the expansion of the elder abuse initiative in the state. The senator said the Northwest Aging Association is helping with that effort.

"When it comes to long-term care, there are going to be some long-term care insurance bills that are proposed," Johnson said.

"We'll have to wait and see what exactly is going to be recommended there in terms of making sure older Iowans have access to long-term care insurance. There's also the regulatory issues that come up. They really have an impact on our nursing facilities in the state."

Johnson also wants to make sure the state has a role in helping care facilities adequately staff long-term care facilities.

"We need to be making sure we have people who can fill the administrative positions at these nursing facilities too," he said. "We continue to fund those programs that are helping younger Iowans develop a career in long-term care."

May said representatives in the Iowa House also will be looking for solutions.

"Workforce development, retention and attraction is the biggest challenge for Iowa" I think in the next decade," May said. "We simply don't have enough workers" I don't care what the venue is" to really supply our employers in the next decade. We could literally, in District 6 here, use another 500 workers. There are 500 jobs out there and we simply don't have the employees for them. In some cases it might be our ability to provide specific technical skills that folks need, but in most cases it is just a matter of finding folks who can actually work. The community colleges are doing yeoman's work on this. They have done the best work in adapting the workforce in Iowa, and in the country for that matter, to the specific needs of the community. It's always the community colleges that we're going to and ask them to try to be as responsive as they can to the needs of business."