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Long‑term care advocates say governor’s budget underfunds nursing homes, risks reducing bed capacity
Summary
Leading Age Minnesota and the Long Term Care Imperative told the House committee that proposed caps and underfunding for mandated standards would cut hundreds of millions from nursing home funding, risk closures and exacerbate workforce shortages.
Long‑term care providers told the House Human Services Committee the governor’s budget would underfund nursing homes at a time of persistent workforce shortages and bed losses across Minnesota.
Kyle Burnt, speaking for the Long Term Care Imperative, said more than 2,400 nursing home beds have been removed from service statewide since 2020 and 16 nursing homes in greater Minnesota have closed. He said the governor’s proposal to limit future rate increases with a 2% cap, limit health insurance costs included in rate setting, and phase out planned closure rate agreements and single‑bed incentives would produce a $218,000,000 cut over four years.
Erin Hubert, also with the Long Term Care Imperative, said the elderly waiver that helps low‑income seniors access assisted living and home care “does not have any sort of inflation factor,” meaning rates would not rise if costs increase. She also called attention to a proposed 54% fee increase for assisted living providers in the MDH budget narrative and raised concerns about changes to the use of provider assessed fine and penalty funds.
Burnt warned that mandated requirements from the Nursing Home Workforce Standards Board are not fully funded in the governor’s proposal; he estimated those requirements would cost about $150,000,000 and that combined with the proposed cuts and the underfunding would represent, in his words, a $350,000,000 impact.
Committee members asked witnesses about the number of facilities that would be affected. Hubert estimated there are roughly 315–320 nursing homes statewide and said she “doesn't envision that any of them would have no impact as a result of the governor’s budget,” adding that “you could safely assume that every nursing home and every nursing home bed would be impacted.”
Members and witnesses noted the link between funding and staffing: lower reimbursement can force facilities to take beds out of service because they cannot staff them. Representative Murphy described this as a “snowball” effect in which losing workforce capacity leads to reduced wings or units at facilities, further reducing access.
Witnesses said they will return with legislative proposals to offset cuts and to fund implementation costs tied to workforce standards. The committee did not take votes; DHS and MDH were expected to appear in later hearings to respond to these concerns.
