Eight Aroostook County nursing homes have received a combined $3 million from a one-time state payout aimed at solving staffing problems and covering other costs.
The Maine Department of Health and Human Services issued $30 million statewide in payments under the state’s Medicare and Medicaid programs last month, shared among 77 nursing facilities, to help cover increased costs spurred by the pandemic.
More than 10 Maine nursing homes have closed in the past four years, due mostly to labor shortages and low state reimbursement for MaineCare patients. The funds are geared to help facilities support employees and reduce the use of costly temporary workers, state officials said.
The money helps, but it isn’t a long-term solution, according to Phil Cyr, whose family company operates the Caribou Rehab and Nursing Center.
“It’s one-time money, and unfortunately, that’s been a common occurrence ever since COVID,” Cyr said. “Somebody could say, ‘Well, you got a fistful of money, couldn’t you just hike the wages?’ It could work, but even if it did, the money would exhaust in a few months and we couldn’t pay the higher wages.”
The Cyr family also owned the Presque Isle Rehab and Nursing Center, which closed in August. Even if that facility had received the latest funding, it wouldn’t have prevented the closure, Cyr said.
Both Caribou and Presque Isle facilities were floundering because of lack of employees and inadequate state reimbursement. The family decided in March it had to close one of the facilities to try to save the other.
Caribou Rehab and Nursing received $510,000 in September. The Presque Isle home lost more than that amount in its final six months of operation, Cyr said. The Caribou center will use about half the money for equipment and building upgrades, and the remainder for employee incentives.
During the pandemic, officials hired temporary staff with higher wages and bonuses, thanks to some COVID-related funding, Cyr said. While beneficial, that also created disparity between new and longer-term workers, so the new funding will allow one-time staff bonuses.
Seven other Aroostook facilities received funding as follows: Borderview Rehab and Living Center, Van Buren, $186,524; Forest Hill Manor, Fort Kent, $356,373; High View Manor, Madawaska, $262,175; Madigan Estates, Houlton, $705,542; Maine Veterans Home, Caribou, $284,438; Mercy Home, Eagle Lake, $254,713; and Northern Light Continuing Care, Mars Hill, $339,030.
Officials at the Madawaska and Mars Hill facilities declined to comment about the funding. Staff at Mercy Home, Forest Hill, Madigan Estates and Maine Veterans Home in Caribou, as well as North Country Associates, which operates Borderview, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
While the one-time boost helps, significant investments are needed to protect access to long-term care, said Angela Westhoff, president and CEO of the Maine Health Care Association.
“MHCA appreciates the $30 million in one-time payments as a bridge to nursing facility rate reform,” Westhoff said. “As the oldest state in the nation with a growing population of older adults needing this level of care, Maine needs to invest in the direct care work force pipeline to help address this historic staffing crisis.”
Maine has 79 nursing care facilities licensed with the Maine Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Licensing and Certification. Eligible facilities had to be in operation and serving residents as of Sept. 1, department press secretary Lindsay Hammes said.
The funds were allocated based on the amount of MaineCare revenue each facility receives and the number of direct-care hours provided to residents, Hammes said. Aroostook County received 10 percent of the funds.
Two Maine facilities didn’t receive the payout. Piper Shores of Scarborough does not accept Medicaid patients so was ineligible, and Eastport Memorial Nursing Home is 100 percent cost reimbursed, Hammes said.
The package is part of the Mills administration’s reimbursement rate reform for MaineCare that will start in January. The plan aims to offer incentives to permanent staff and increase quality of care, health and human services officials said on Sept. 10.
Cyr, too, looks forward to steadier funding to help offset remaining staff shortages. Caribou Rehab and Nursing still lacks three to four nurses aides, he said.
It was unfortunate to have to close one of the family nursing homes, Cyr said, but both were losing money from operating at about three-quarters full. Presque Isle’s residents have transferred to Caribou and Mars Hill, and things are starting to stabilize.
“If a quarter of the building is empty, you’re not getting money for those empty rooms,” he said. “By closing Presque Isle and shifting 30 residents to Caribou, that enabled Caribou to get back on solid financial ground.”
