Stop Nursing Home Cuts - Tell Legislators to Support the Quality Assurance Fee

Tuesday, March 2

The Washington House and Senate Budgets are in, and they include cuts to nursing home funding. There is a way for legislators to prevent these cuts – pass the Quality Assurance Fee.

Call the Legislative Hotline toll-free at 1 (800) 562-6000 and tell legislators to stop cuts to nursing home funding by passing the Quality Assurance Fee.

The Senate’s budget proposal would cut nursing home funding by $58 million, while the House’s budget proposal would cut nursing homes by $17 million. Everybody knows that both nursing home workers and residents can’t afford any cuts.

A proposed Quality Assurance Fee (QAF) would prevent these cuts without running up the state budget deficit. The QAF is House Bill 3021 and Senate Bill 6751. The QAF can still be passed this session.

The Facts

The Quality Assurance Fee generates funding for nursing homes through matching federal Medicaid money. For every $1 QAF generates, more than a $1 match would from federal Medicaid funding.

Other QAF facts include:

• Nursing homes, not residents, would pay the fee. The bills are written so private pay residents would not pay the fee.
• There are 37 states with this type of nursing home funding mechanism. Washington is only one of 13 states that do not use this type of funding.
• All but two nursing homes in Washington would see an increase in Medicaid funding with the QAF.

In addition to our union, the QAF is supported by a substantial majority of nursing homes in the state, the Washington Health Care Association, the Residents Council of Washington and the Washington State Senior Citizen’s Lobby.

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