By Lisa Wilcox
Staff Writer
CARIBOU — Over the years, Maine nursing homes have seen a sharp decline in the amount of MaineCare funding they have received from the state. This has resulted in many long-term care facilities having to cut expenses, most notably in staffing, which creates concern over the quality of care patients receive.
The heavy impact of the MaineCare funding issue was highlighted in June of 2012 with the closure of the Atlantic Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Calais, which resulted in the loss of 92 jobs and the relocation of dozens of residents to Ellsworth, forcing members of the patients’ families to travel a considerable distance to spend time with their loved ones.
A number of interrelated legislative efforts regarding the long-term care facility issue have been submitted to the legislature — so many, in fact, that the legislature decided to form the Commission to Study Long-Term Care Facilities to review the numerous proposals and make recommendations on what should be passed into law.
Caribou Rehab & Nursing Center Administrator Phil Cyr, who has 37 years’ experience in long-term care facility management, has been appointed to the commission. As an administrator, Cyr has first-hand experience with the hardships long-term care facilities have faced.
“We squeeze, squeeze, squeeze and continue to find places to save money, ” Cyr commented. “Nursing homes are facing bankruptcy or the quality of care is going downhill.”
Cyr, a member of the Maine Health Care Association board of directors, is one of 11 that have been appointed to the commission. Cyr represents an owner or administrator of a rural nursing facility. Rural nursing facilities generally have the highest rate of MaineCare patients and, thus, are the most affected by the lack of funding.
Other members of the commission include representatives of both the state Senate and House of Representatives, the director of a long-term care ombudsman program, directors of statewide associations representing long-term care facilities, a city manager, and a representative of the governor’s office.
The six issues laid before the commission to discuss are funding for long-term care facilities such as acuity-based reimbursement and pay for performance, 24-hour staffing requirements, needs of providers serving a high percentage of MaineCare patients, collaboration with critical access hospitals, the viability of privately owned facilities in rural communities, and the impact on rural populations of nursing home closures.
“While we’ll be looking at these six items, we will also be looking at the global picture,” Cyr advised. “What is the big picture problem?”
In order to get a sense of what topics the commission should be addressing to resolve the long-term care facility problems, Cyr is asking for public input.
“I would like to receive letters from the community to take with me to the commission meetings,” Cyr said. “I’m curious to know what the public perception is, and I think the written word lends credibility to the requests I’ll be making.”
The commission will be meeting four times in Augusta. The full-day meetings will be held twice in October and twice in November with an early December deadline to report back to the legislature.
This is not the first time Cyr has gone to bat for long-term health care facilities’ staff and residents. He has been in contact with the Maine Long Term Care Ombudsman Office in Augusta about the MaineCare funding decline and had an article featured in the magazine Long-Term Living. He has also been involved in payment committees since the 1980s.
“Every year is becoming more challenging,” Cyr said. “The state continues to ask us to do more with less.”
To contact Cyr with issues to bring to the committee, letters may be mailed to Philip A. Cyr, Administrator, Caribou Rehab & Nursing Center, 10 Bernadette Street, Caribou, ME 04736 before Oct. 11.
