LINCOLN — State lawmakers are loading up an effort to leverage millions in additional federal funds to help stem the closing of skilled nursing facilities in Nebraska.

Under an amendment being drafted for State Sen. Myron Dorn of Adams, the state would apply for higher reimbursement of patient care via the federal Hospital Quality Assurance and Access Assessment Act.

If that name sounds familiar, it’s the same program that the state is tapping to attract an additional $950 million in federal funds for hospitals to care for patients funded via Medicaid and Medicare.

Dorn said that under the amendment, Nebraska could see nearly $24 million additional funds for nursing homes in the first year, and $117 million in the second.

The extra funding comes at a time when skilled nursing and assisted living facilities are struggling, especially in rural areas. In the past three years, 12 nursing homes and 17 assisted living homes have closed in Nebraska due to lagging income and increased costs.

‘Care deserts’

The closings have left 15 of the state’s 93 counties without health care facilities of some kind, leading the Nebraska Health Care Association to label such areas “care deserts.”

“This will help keep some of our nursing homes open in rural Nebraska,” Dorn said.

Elmwood Sen. Rob Clements, who chairs the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee, said the amendment fits with a recent call from Gov. Jim Pillen to seek additional federal funds, where available, to fund services in the state.

“We’re very low (among all states) in accessing federal funds,” Clements said.

Dorn credited a fellow member of the Appropriations Committee, Sen. Christy Armendariz of Omaha, for pushing the idea. He emphasized that the funds can’t be used for assisted-living facilities.

Jalene Carpenter, president and CEO of the Health Care Association, said Pillen’s office reached out after a press conference last month about “care deserts.”

That led to discussions of increasing reimbursement via the federal quality assurance program, which Nebraska nursing homes have participated in, but not fully leveraged, for more than a decade.

Broad-based solution sought

“We’re incredibly grateful to Sen. Dorn and the governor for their work,” Carpenter said. “It gives us time to find a more broad-based solution.”

Because the filing deadlines for bills has passed for 2024, the proposal to leverage additional federal funds for nursing homes will be introduced as an amendment, and a special public hearing will be held before the Appropriations Committee.

If advanced, Dorn said the amendment would be attached to his Legislative Bill 130, another bill to help nursing homes, that has advanced to final reading.

The amendment has no fiscal impact to the state, the senator said, but nursing homes would have to meet certain criteria for improvement of care.