South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations (SDAHO) President/CEO Tim Rave recently joined SDPB’s Radio talk show In the Moment, to provide a recap of healthcare issues this past legislative session, healthcare funding and what this means for the future of members and patients. Cara Hetland, with SDPB started the conversation asking for a summary of how things all ended up this legislative session for long-term care providers and providers in general. “Overall, it went really well. I first want to thank Governor Kristi Noem for proposing the 90% methodology and the 5% increase to providers. I also want to thank the legislature and the Governor again for getting all Community Support Providers (CSP’s) including nursing homes up to 100% methodology.” Tim Rave, President/CEO, SDAHO. Rave spoke to the 7 nursing homes that have closed in the last year and the impact this may have on future nursing homes currently struggling. “This will help stabilize the situation. It does not solve all the problems, but it stabilizes where we were going which was a crisis situation in long-term care and this is a step in the right direction.” Tim Rave, President/CEO, SDAHO.
When asked about the current moratorium on nursing home beds, Rave shared with listeners, while the current moratorium created by Governor Bill Janklow is still in place, it has not been part of the challenges impacting nursing homes over the past few years. “ I served in the legislature for a long time and left about 8 years ago and honestly over the past 20 years or so I have never seen it get even close to that moratorium established by Governor Janklow, due to the trend we were headed toward back then. That’s a different topic for a different show.” Tim Rave, President/CEO, SDAHO.
When asked about the 7% increase for educators and state employers compared to the 5% increase for providers, Rave was eager to thank policymakers for the 5% increase and reminded listeners of Medicaid expansion being implemented later this summer. “The increase is welcome, of course we would have liked more but we as Medicaid providers are looking at implementing Medicaid expansion in July and there will be a significant about of dollars infused into the system over the next year or two, so that helped with the decision to go with the 7% for educators and state employers over the 5% for providers. Plus we’ve had solid increases over the past few years as well, and we are thankful for that and this years 5% increase.” Tim Rave, President/CEO, SDAHO.
When asked about policy issues this session and his overall thoughts on how things went, Tim was very positive about the legislatures work with the healthcare community. “We had a fantastic year and we really were not in the cross-hairs this past session. We had good financial support and we did not have a lot of policy issues like we had last year. Overall, it was a fantastic year.” Tim Rave, President/CEO, SDAHO.
To listen to the full interview with SDAHO President/CEO Tim Rave, during In the Moment, on SDPB, Click Here.
