Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Infant Care Residential topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Bridget's Path warns loss of $1M infant-vitality line would force closure of residential neonatal withdrawal program
Summary
Bridget's Path told the Senate Finance Committee that eliminating a $1 million infant-vitality line in HB 96 would make the Dayton residential infant care center unsustainable and would drive newborns experiencing withdrawal into hospital NICUs and into foster care at higher rates.
Jill Kingston, founder and president of Bridget's Path, told the Senate Finance Committee she was asking the legislature to restore a $1,000,000 infant-vitality line item that the Senate's substitute to HB 96 eliminated.
"Without the funding, Bridget's Path quite literally cannot stay open," Kingston said, describing the center’s model of inpatient, home‑like care and wraparound family services for newborns experiencing withdrawal. She said Bridget's Path has cared for almost 300 babies and their families and that 85% of the babies treated were able to avoid foster care.
Kingston said the prior budget set temporary law requiring the Ohio Department of Medicaid (ODM) and the Department of Children and Youth (DCY) to develop a sustainable reimbursement model and that ODM’s rules were "almost effective," with DCY having allocated infant‑vitality funding in the past. The witness said the Senate’s removal of the $1 million undermines the legislature’s prior directive and threatened the program’s viability; she said the center recently reduced operations by 50% and is turning away babies.
Why it matters: Bridget's Path framed the line‑item as the final legislative step to sustain a specialized residential service that the witness said reduces foster placements and provides clinical care and family services that state hospital care and NICU discharge pathways may not supply.
Committee exchange: The panel did not adopt a restoration at the hearing. Kingston invited senators to visit the Dayton facility and said the organization had been working with ODM and DCY for two years on the reimbursement service line.
Ending: Kingston closed by reiterating the program’s outcomes and asking the committee to "restore the $1,000,000 in the infant vitality line item." The committee moved to the next witness without taking formal action on the request.
