The Background
A labor-management partnership in one state comprised of major for-profit nursing home providers and the labor union representing their employees hired Sellers Dorsey to work on a Medicaid financing initiative to bring additional federal revenue into the long term care system by developing, modeling, seeking state and federal approval for, and implementing a nursing home provider assessment.
The Collaboration
Together with their client, Sellers Dorsey:
- Developed and modeled nursing home assessment;
- Assisted state officials prepare materials for CMS approval;
- Assisted in drafting the state legislation, public notices, state plan amendments, waiver requests, briefing documents and answers to CMS questions;
- Briefed state officials and the client on CMS actions in other states that were seeking to implement nursing home provider assessments;
- Strategized with client and state on securing CMS approval;
- Worked with state officials to modify state legislation to enact assessment to address CMS concerns.
The Results
In July of 2003, the Governor signed a nursing home provider assessment into law set to generate $150 million annually in receipts, with most of the funds being used as state share to make increased Medicaid payments to providers. In February of 2005, CMS approved the assessment.