Maine's governor passed a bill to increase Medicaid payments to nursing homes, announced in a letter to the Legislature's budget-writing Appropriations Committee Dec. 9, according to the Portland Press Herald.
Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills approved the bill — designed to help nursing homes cover rising labor costs and minimum wage rates — after holding it since June. Ms. Mills had previously voiced concerns that the bill might jeopardize federal Medicaid funding and that the Legislature hadn't provided enough funding in the bill to cover all $1.4 million needed. Language added to the bill rectified her concerns, the governor wrote Dec. 9.
The letter also required Maine's Department of Health and Human Services, the state agency that administers the payments, to prove payments are directly applied to increased wages for front-line nursing home employees.
The rate increases, initially set to begin in July, would be retroactive, Jeanne Lambrew, PhD, HHS commissioner, told lawmakers on the Appropriations Committee Dec. 9.
Republican leaders have expressed concern about the bill's funding levels, saying it only provides a fraction of what's needed to stabilize nursing homes, according to the Portland Press Herald.