Long-term care leader touts nursing schools, Medicaid provider tax

The Arkansas Health Care Association, which represents nursing homes, rehabilitation centers and long-term care facilities, had a good week for news. They cut the ribbon on the first of three new nursing schools for its members and received a gift from the U.S. Senate regarding Medicaid.

The schools will be in Little Rock, Rogers, and Jonesboro and are the first of their kind nationally.

Rachel Bunch, AHCA executive director, said the nursing schools will allow Certified Nursing Assistant (CNAs) to move up the career ladder in an efficient way to meet workforce needs for employers and the work schedules of employees.

“As you mentioned, we’ve got three locations around the state, brand new LPN program for the state of Arkansas, but a brand new program and approach, the first of its kind in the nation. We’re really excited about it, the opportunity to upskill current workers in our long-term care facilities into the nursing profession to work for us,” said Bunch.

The employer-sponsored schools will offer adaptable schedules to fit existing workforce demands. While state workforce funds help support the schools, the students are already working for facilities that are in need of these advanced workers, so promotions are practically guaranteed upon graduation.

“We are taking workers that are in our facilities already and hope to recruit more from the public to come to our facilities, but to climb the career ladder and have a nursing career,” said Bunch. “Of the 70 students that are in our first program, the average time that they’ve worked as a CNA in long-term care is around 10 years. So these people are dedicated in our rural communities to caring for these people who are really sick and difficult… They’ve put in the work and definitely deserve the opportunity and are willing and dedicated.”

With Medicaid cuts likely in Washington, D.C., the nursing home industry appears safe from major funding losses at this time. While federal lawmakers focus on reforming aspects of Medicaid towards the able-bodied, long-term care facilities typically serve those who are disabled, elderly and very poor.

Bunch said there has been a lot communication with the state’s U.S. Senators on the Medicaid provider tax. That tax basically works like this:

States tax nursing homes (and other healthcare providers) and use the revenue specifically for Medicaid reimbursements. With the federal government matching increased Medicaid payments, the ratio works to the state’s advantage to draw more federal money to the state’s program.

“We’ve been watching this of course very closely,” she said. “[We] were in D.C. last week for some meetings and we met with both of our senators and their staff members. We’ve been in constant communication with them about this. Right now, we are optimistic.”

The most recent text from the Senate Finance Committee holds nursing home provider taxes harmless.

“For us, the big priority is the provider taxes because Arkansas gets a 6% provider tax for nursing facilities and we’ve had that in place for many years, and we rely on that to help with the state budget. Our facilities help front that money, and it works with the state for the Medicaid reimbursement that most of our elderly Arkansans rely on.”

You can watch Bunch’s full interview in the video below.