Ohio long-term care experts on Tuesday expressed serious concern about the budget proposal that threatened to cut down most of the state's 28,000 private nursing room rooms.
The Ohio Health Care Association expressed concern about the proposal from its representative on its official LinkedIn page, called “a setback for privacy, dignity and quality care of all residents, regardless of payer.” The bill is looking to win 5,000 caps for the Private Nursing Homeroom. This is not a viable option for state providers, OHCA executive director Peter Van Land Cleece told McKnight's Long-Term Care News on Tuesday.
“(Home) takes out the dollar cap and puts the cap based on the number of rooms. This is ridiculous. There are 28,000 private rooms already approved in Ohio.
He believes there may be misunderstandings among lawmakers.
“There may be confusion as to how private rooms actually work, not limited to Medicaid beneficiaries,” he said. “So, if you say that there are only 15,000 rooms, as the current $160 million equals 15,000 Medicaid beneficiaries, it won't work that way. Residents can access private rooms regardless of their pay source.”
Ohio was the first state to expand access to private Medicaid rooms, Ohca said.
In December 2023, Ohio's Medicaid Department was able to bypass typical waiting periods due to emergency timing factors. This allowed the approval of private nursing home rooms for state Medicaid residents. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services agreed to grant up to $160 million in federal rebates for fiscal year 2025.
More than 20,000 private rooms have been approved from applications submitted by state nursing homes dating back to January 2024. The plan made major changes to existing reimbursement guidelines so that the facility did not receive additional funds for its private rooms prior to CMS approval.
Providers are now collecting $20 or $30 per day from private rooms. Van Land Cleece told McKnight's in January, depending on the category the room is in. Private rooms in category are private bathrooms ($30 per day) and private rooms in category two with one bathroom sharing a resident ($20 per day).
Ultimately, Van Land Cru suspects that the omnibus revision, passed at home on Tuesday afternoon, will outweigh the governor's support.
“We don't think it's likely to go all the way. I think we'll turn it around in the Senate,” he said. “And if it happens to pass, you won't be surprised to see the governor rejecting it, as he is a private room advocate. The Medicaid Department approved the room in the first place.”
Ohio's fiscal year 2026-2027 budget is expected to be finalized by June 30th.
