Texas Legislature Fails Nursing Home Residents Again

What does it take to become a priority in the Texas Legislature?

As someone who provides nursing home care for the state’s frail and elderly, I often wonder why my residents and their caregivers never seems to be a priority of our legislators.

About two out of every three Texas nursing home residents rely on Medicaid to pay for their care. That rate is set by the Texas Legislature. Our Legislature has set a rate that is one of the lowest in the nation. It does not even come close to meeting the cost of caring for Medicaid residents by the state’s own estimates.

The result is that nursing homes struggle to ensure that when your loved ones call for help, someone who is qualified and compassionate will be there quickly to help them. The fact that nursing homes are not able to offer competitive wages makes it hard to recruit good, quality nurses and nurse assistants, and is why our annual staff turnover statewide averages more than 90 percent.

It also makes it very hard to upgrade older facilities or offer some of the extra amenities that can brighten the lives of our residents.

But the Legislature has been reluctant to fund increases to assist with this care. In 2015, despite entering the session with a $7.5 billion budget surplus, Texas nursing homes received no increase from state lawmakers.

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