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Nursing home administrators warn Inslee budget cuts would ‘‘jeopardize’’ care and admissions
Summary
Multiple skilled nursing facility administrators told the Appropriations Committee that proposed Medicaid reimbursement cuts and a delayed rate rebase would force closures, reduce admissions and strain hospital capacity.
Administrators from multiple skilled nursing facilities and long-term care providers told the Appropriations Committee during the public hearing that Governor Inslee’s budget, as proposed, would underfund nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities and put patient access at risk.
Tom Davis, representing Hudson Bay Health and Rehabilitation Centre in Vancouver, said the proposed plan would cut reimbursement rates and delay a rate rebase until fiscal year 2028, meaning providers would be paid based on 2022 costs in 2027. "When skilled nursing facilities are underfunded, we struggle to hire staff and must limit patient admissions," Davis said, adding that limited bed availability then backs up hospitals.
Teresa Andre, Parkrose Care Center administrator in Tacoma, described facility-level impacts: under the governor’s proposal the facility would "lose almost $40 per patient per day compared to our current Medicaid reimbursement rate," she testified, and that loss across 70 Medicaid residents could exceed $1 million in a year. Joanne Schimelfennik of Good Samaritan Healthcare Center in Yakima said the new reimbursement approach would "cut rates and base reimbursement off 2022 costs until the fiscal year of 2028," calling that trajectory "unsustainable."
Shelter and provider advocates repeated the operational consequences: reduced staffing, inability to accept specialized patients (ventilator‑dependent residents cited), longer hospital stays awaiting placement, and threats to facility solvency. Administrators asked the committee to include the Department of Social and Health Services’ (DSHS) recommended funding for stabilization and to reject the delayed rebase and cuts described in the governor’s proposal.
Discussion vs. decision: Testimony was part of the public comment period; no committee vote or official action followed during the hearing. Advocates requested that the Legislature adopt alternative funding (DSHS recommendations) and not implement the proposed cuts.
Ending: Nursing home operators requested the committee to restore or maintain provider funding in the final budget to prevent bed closures and access shortfalls.
