The Wolf administration is backing off a proposal to restructure Medicaid payments to nursing homes that a trade association found would have rewarded 13 homes accused by Pennsylvania state prosecutors of failing to meet residents' most basic needs.
Pennsylvania's Human Services Secretary Ted Dallas told advocacy groups Thursday that responses to the proposal prompted his agency to reconsider it.
Dallas says the formula will stay the same while his agency keeps working on it. He says the agency wants to help nursing homes whose patients are most likely to be covered by Medicaid.
LeadingAge PA, a trade association of not-for-profit providers of services for the elderly, says the plan would have hurt higher-rated nursing homes and helped lower-rated nursing homes, as well as 13 of the homes cited by prosecutors.
