The Cleveland Plain Dealer had an article yesterday exposing millions of dollars in waste at Ohio’s nursing homes. It seems that nursing homes are approving care for patients who do not need it and who do not qualify for it, and the are sticking taxpayers with the bill through the Medicaid program:

Some Cuyahoga County nursing homes have become warehouses for the homeless and mentally ill, using millions of taxpayer dollars to house patients who often don’t qualify for the care. Medicaid pays nursing homes to take in hundreds of Cuyahoga patients discharged every year from hospital psychiatric wards. The mentally ill are eligible for admission to nursing homes only if they need 24-hour supervision or hands-on assistance. But 60 percent of the psychiatric patients admitted into Cuyahoga nursing homes, most on Medicaid’s dime, don’t need the care, the state found.

More here.

Eye on the Statehouse touched on this issue earlier this year when it bestowed the “Porker of the Week” on Ohio’s House members for inserting an additional $50 million in new funding for nursing home care.

Even when they are not fraudulently billing Medicaid, nursing home long-term care still costs more than long-term care in home or community settings. Ohio has one of the highest rates of long-term nursing home care. Taxpayers would be better served if the state’s long-term care needs were shifted towards home care, which is also more attractive to patients. And, of course, the state needs to ensure that those who do receive nursing home care actually need it.

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