In upstate New York this week, one group of vulnerable patients is getting an all-too-close look at what happens when there’s a collision of sagging nursing home reimbursement, added regulatory scrutiny, closures and increasing demand.
Let’s hope that lawmakers in the state — and in others that have chronically underfunded Medicaid or denied payment increases amid recently skyrocketing costs — are having their eyes opened too.
Rochester nursing home Waterview Heights is at the center of this worst-case scenario, which came to a head in August, when the facility announced it would close after termination from federal programs by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services…