The center has finally received a rate increase of $10 per patient per day. Officials had been asking for a 10 percent hike
MONTAGUE – The one-of-a-kind nursing home Farren Care Center has gotten some good fiscal news from the state, but one official says it may not be good enough.
Farren is part of the Sisters of Providence Health System. It is the only facility of its kind in the state, providing care to up to 122 patients described as “medically involved” and mentally ill.
It also has an unusual funding pattern. While many other nursing homes receive customary increases in Medicaid reimbursement rates, Farren has to negotiate a new contract with the state every year. Since 2005, while its sister hospitals have gotten more money, Farren was stagnated at a rate of $282 per patient per day while costs rose, feeding into a deficit of more than $800,000.
Ninety-five percent of Farren patients are insured through Medicaid.
Christopher McLaughlin, chief operating officer of Mercy Continuing Care Network, which oversees Farren, says the center has finally received a rate increase of $10 per patient per day.
Daniel Keenan, vice president of government relations at Sisters of Providence, has said that was the bare minimum to keep the facility afloat. Officials had been asking for a 10 percent hike, said McLaughlin.
“This is still less than we asked for and will still cause us to operate at a pretty significant deficit,” he said. “We’re probably on track to lose about ... $200,000” this year in the best-case scenario.
That shortfall could mean the building, the first wing of which was constructed in 1900, will not get the major capital improvements it needs, he said. The youngest wing of the center, which is in Turners Falls, was built in 1965.
But the effort is not over. McLaughlin said negotiations will continue, but another increase could be far off.
The less-than-ideal increase could have consequences for the center’s 200-plus employees and its patients, who come to Farren only after being rejected by traditional nursing homes because of their extraordinary needs. The average Farren patient is in his or her late 70s and some are in their 30s and 40s, said administrator Jim Clifford earlier this year.
Layoffs and reductions in quality of care are not imminent, but McLaughlin said they are possible.
“The recent $10 rate increase sort of bought us some time and helped out,” he said.
Another problem is the Medicaid User Fee Assessment, a tax taken out of the reimbursement rate. In February, officials said Farren had $16 built into its rate to help pay the fee, but the state charged them about $20. At the time, Keenan said it cost the center $150,000 per year.
McLaughlin said he wasn’t sure how that will change with the new rate, but “there’s still a net takeaway.” Keenan was not available for comment.
But McLaughlin said he is not ungrateful. He thanked Gov. Deval Patrick’s administration, state Sen. Stanley Rosenberg, D-Amherst, state Rep. Stephen Kulik, D-Worthington, and state Sen. Gale Candaras, D-Wilbraham, for helping to get Farren everything they could.
“We couldn’t be requesting this at a worse time,” he acknowledged.
“We’re pleased we’ve reached an agreement with the Farren Care Center,” said Jennifer Kritz, a spokesperson for the state Executive Office of Health and Human Services, which handles the contract negotiations. “We believe the rate adequately reflects the costs.”