CMS, Ohio Governor Approve Funding Increase for Transition to Private Rooms in Nursing Homes

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) announced that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has approved a state program that would increase Medicaid reimbursements for long-term care providers that offer private rooms and bathrooms.

DeWine’s announcement last week follows months of vocal support for encouraging providers to switch to such private rooms — including a late November executive order that declared a state of emergency and allowed the state Medicaid Department to skip a traditional waiting period when implementing the program.

Once finalized, the program will add a $30 per day reimbursement bonus to providers for private rooms with private bathrooms, or $20 per day for private rooms with shared bathrooms.

The CMS approval was the last step before the state could finalize the funding increase, said Pete Van Runkle, executive director of the Ohio Health Care Association.

“This is the final level of approval, but the state still has to implement the approval,” he said. McKnight Long Term Care News Wednesday. “Providers filed their applications for approval of the private room incentive payments as early as January, so the state must review and approve applications that meet the statutory criteria. They will also need to set up the billing and payment infrastructure for the incentive payments.”

Private rooms in nursing homes have gained popularity in recent years for their impact on reducing the spread of infectious diseases and improving residents’ quality of life. Health care providers, experts and policymakers have urged state and federal governments to fund the transition of traditional nursing homes to a more private, family-oriented model.

“Private rooms increase resident and family satisfaction,” DeWine wrote Tuesday in The Columbus Dispatch“They provide people with the level of autonomy, comfort and dignity they expect – and deserve – from the place they call home. House. This is particularly important for people requiring specialist care, given the personal nature of the experience of receiving care.”

Ohio has not yet set a date for implementing the reimbursement program, but providers are already eagerly awaiting its impact.

“It’s proven to be very effective,” Van Runkle said. At McKnight’s. “More than 1,000 applications have been filed by Ohio’s 920 Medicaid-certified health care facilities. Because there are two categories of private rooms…some facilities have filed more than one application. We don’t know the exact numbers, but many applicants are proposing to give up licensed beds to create private rooms, which is allowed, as are specially designed private rooms.”