Nursing Homes Sue State Of Connecticut

HARTFORD — (AP) An association of nursing homes in Connecticut on January 28 filed a lawsuit against Governor M. Jodi Rell in federal court, claiming its facilities have been unfairly and unlawfully underfunded for years by the state’s Medicaid program.

The lawsuit, filed in US District Court in Hartford, seeks an injunction to require the state to comply with federal law that sets federal Medicaid rates. The association claims Connecticut’s payment system conflicts with that law, is “broken” and underfunds nursing homes by more than $100 million each year.

Matthew Barrett, vice president of the Connecticut Association of Health Care Facilities, said the lawsuit is a last resort.

“After years of underfunding, Connecticut’s nursing homes are stretched to the limit trying to provide high-quality care to 28,000 frail and elderly residents without adequate funding,” he said.

Connecticut’s long-term care industry has been suffering financially in recent years, experiencing bankruptcies and state takeovers. Some facilities have had to ask the state for emergency rate increases. For many homes, Medicaid — government-paid medical assistance for people with few, if any, assets — is a major source of funding.

Rich Harris, a spokesman for Gov Rell, said state payments to the for-profit nursing homes “are neither arbitrary nor unlawful.” He said the payments are among the highest in the nation and that the method used to determine rates is subject to approval by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Mr Harris said the number of Medicaid-eligible residents in the state has dropped by eight percent during the past five years, but the amount the state has spent on nursing care for Medicaid patients — currently $1.2 billion a year — has increased 9.3 percent.

“Meanwhile, the overall trend is away from nursing home care due to the availability of alternatives such as assisted living, in-home care, and other services,” he said. “There are fewer nursing homes and fewer licensed beds than five years ago, and even 2,400 vacant beds last month.”

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, whose office would represent Rell, said his office will “review the claims and respond appropriately” once it receives the lawsuit.

Gov Rell has until February 18 to file a formal response to the suit.

The nursing home association said its principal legal argument, that Connecticut’s payment system conflicts with federal law, is similar to the one used by Medicaid providers in California and Washington state, where Medicaid payment rates have been cut.

Connecticut facilities were scheduled to receive rate adjustments, the association said, but those were frozen until July 1, 2011, because of state budget constraints.