Beatrice center nears losing funds

LINCOLN — Nebraska on Friday moved closer to losing $25 million a year in federal Medicaid funding for the Beatrice State Developmental Center.

That funding has been in jeopardy since the troubled institution was decertified as a Medicaid facility. Officials with the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services pulled the certification in November 2007 because of the center’s ongoing problems with the care of residents.

Funding continued only because the state had appealed.

On Friday, Nebraska officials received word that an administrative law judge had denied the state’s appeal. The ruling allows officials to proceed with cutting off the center’s Medicaid funding.

Kerry Winterer, CEO of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, said state officials are studying the decision and reviewing their options.

“While this is unfortunate, it is not unexpected,” he said.

State Sen. Steve Lathrop of Omaha, chairman of a special legislative oversight committee, said the ruling was predictable.

“It was evident the appeal was more about trying to delay the loss of federal funding as long as possible” than about disputing inspectors’ findings, he said.

The Legislature this year set aside money from the state’s cash reserve to cover the expected loss of Medicaid funds.

The facility has not met federal care standards since September 2006 when it failed seven of eight major standards and received two citations for problems inspectors said placed residents in immediate jeopardy.

Earlier this year, the state’s chief medical officer ordered 47 medically fragile residents out of the center. The move came after state inspectors found that staff delays, oversights and treatment mistakes had led to an 18-year-old woman’s death.

The Beatrice center now cares for about 185 people with mental retardation and other developmental disabilities. Many also have physical disabilities or mental illnesses.

Jodi Fenner, developmental disabilities director for HHS, said her focus is on getting the center recertified. State and federal officials are scheduled to meet and talk about the recertification process next week.

“In an ideal world, I would have loved to have won the appeal, but it doesn’t change what we need to do,” she said.

To be recertified, the Beatrice center must prove it can meet federal care standards and maintain that level of care. To do so, it must pass two full federal surveys within a set period — typically more than six months.

In a report earlier this year, a Kentucky consultant estimated the recertification process would take at least one year and possibly two. Joseph Toy said facilities seeking recertification must meet higher standards of care.

Nebraska also is working to meet the terms of an agreement with the U.S. Justice Department, which found that conditions and practices at the center had violated residents’ constitutional and legal rights.

Contact the writer:

402-473-9583, martha.stoddard@owh.com

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