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Developmental‑disability providers request rate relief, accreditation funding and specialty‑hospital licensing for medically complex patients
Summary
Anne Carlson and DD providers told appropriators that serving medically complex people in intermediate care facilities (ICFs) has produced operating losses and asked for funding to cover past losses, a rate pathway while converting to a specialty hospital license, plus inflationary increases and accreditation support for DD providers.
BISMARCK — Leaders of intermediate care facility (ICF) services and community DD providers asked the committee for supplemental funding and policy changes to reflect rising costs serving medically and behaviorally complex people with developmental disabilities.
Why it matters: Providers said wages, contract staffing and complex medical care drove operating losses at Anne Carlson’s ICF program. They urged a specialty hospital license to align reimbursement with the complexity of care and asked for interim funds while licensing transitions occur. Community DD providers asked for higher inflationary increases and resumed reimbursement for accreditation costs.
What testimony covered - Tim Eisinger (Vice President/CEO, Anne Carlson Center) described the medically complex census in the Jamestown ICF and said the center supports multiple residents with tracheostomies and ventilator needs. He described large operating losses over 2022–2024 and asked the Legislature to (a) allow conversion from an ICF license to a specialty hospital license (the department would implement via rule) and (b) appropriate funds to cover 50% of recorded ICF operating losses from 2022–2024 and to cover expected losses during the licensing transition (testimony provided order‑of‑magnitude figures for discussion; the request included a multi‑million dollar ask for transition funding).
- Tom Neuberger (Red River Human Services Foundation) and other DD providers asked the committee to provide a larger inflationary increase for DD providers than the executive budget includes (they requested a 43% inflationary adjustment across DD provider rates compared with the 1.5% per year in the current draft) and to restore reimbursement for accreditation costs (examples given: Council on Quality Leadership accreditation was cited in testimony at roughly $30k–$35k per provider visit).
- Donna Bezeskin (Catholic Charities North Dakota) described corporate guardianship and said Catholic Charities is the guardian of last resort for adults with intellectual disabilities. She said the waiting list for corporate guardianship services stood at 142 people as of 12/31/2024 and requested funding to reduce that backlog.
Ending Providers urged appropriators to account for medical complexity, contract staffing costs and accreditation requirements in the DD and ICF funding structure, and to consider administrative rule changes and targeted appropriations while a specialty‑hospital pathway is implemented.
