The nursing home industry is suing Pennsylvania. The industry is stated on Tuesday that the state illegally withheld more than $150 million. Those funds were intended to help long-term care facilities. They uphold the financial burden of the Corona Virus pandemic.
Nursing Home Industry Critically Needs Supplemental Payments
Filed in the state court, the lawsuit, has contended the Department of Human Services will not provide supplemental payments to nursing homes as specified by law. It will deprive them of crucial funding to fight the pandemic.
Nursing Home Industry is Standing Up
Stealing more than $153 million from nursing homes in battling a once-in-a-century pandemic, it’s now the time to stand up for what’s right. This is according to Adam Marles, president, and CEO of LeadingAge PA, which represents hundreds of homes statewide. The nursing home industry didn’t want to file suit against the Wolf administration. But they ignored the clear language of the state law.
Old People Left to Rot
Unfortunately, Governor Tom Wolf has “simply turned his back” on facility home residents and staff, he said.
Ali Fogarty, a Department of Human Services spokesperson, said the lawsuit “seeks only more money for facilities throughout the commonwealth.” It has already received more than $800 million in taxpayer stimulus.”
900 Long-Term Care Facilities are Involved in the Lawsuit
The state agency needs to release the funding which the lawsuit asked the Commonwealth Court to do so. LeadingAge PA and two other trade groups are representing a total of more than 900 long-term care facilities in Pennsylvania. They include country-owned homes.
Negotiations Didn’t Work Between Nursing Home Industry, Government
Going to courts after months of negotiations with the state, the trade groups said they went nowhere.
Nationwide and in Pennsylvania, long-term care facilities may have been hit especially hard by the pandemic. About 40,000 residents of more than 1,300 nursing and personal care homes have contracted the virus to date. Representing more than 60 percent of the statewide toll, about 7,000 people have died, according to the Health Department. From Philly to Pittsburgh, the state is still reeling from the pandemic.