Several “long-awaited” aging and health policy proposals passed the Ohio Legislature Thursday as part of a “massive” $6 billion relief bill that includes $40 million for assisted living providers and increased funding for other long-term care provider types.
Substitute House Bill 45 was passed unanimously out of the Ohio Senate early Thursday morning, followed immediately by concurrence in the Ohio House. The bill now moves to Gov. Mike DeWine (R) for his signature.
“The proposals reflect the continued commitment of the state to support long-term services and supports and will alleviate some of the financial challenges experienced by LeadingAge Ohio members,” LeadingAge Ohio noted to members on its website.
The bill includes relief for assisted living, nursing facilities, hospice, home health and adult day programs, as well as a large expansion of the state’s Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly program.
Megan Kelley, Ohio Assisted Living Association’s executive director, said she was grateful to lawmakers for including the $40 million appropriation for assisted living communities.
“We estimate that this funding will provide our members with approximately $595 per assisted living apartment to help address critical workforce needs,” Kelley told McKnight’s Senior Living. “While we still have a ways to go to fully stabilize the assisted living workforce, this is a meaningful start.”
Pete Van Runkle, Ohio Health Care Association executive director, said that the funding will help all long-term services and supports providers, all of whom are affected to varying degrees by workforce shortages and the pandemic. And although the bill contains some restrictions on how dollars can be spent, he said “it’s definitely where we really need the help,” including addressing direct care staffing shortages.
Van Runkle told McKnight’s Senior Living that the bigger questions are how the money will be allocated among providers, what the process will look like and when it will happen.
Because the funds are coming from the state allocation of federal American Rescue Plan Act funding, the Ohio Office of Management and Budget will handle the process. Van Runkle said that if history is any indicator, the OMB will create an application process, which means that providers could lose out if they aren’t aware of the funding and don’t apply.
He praised the fact that legislators took industry prompting to heart and included funding for all providers.
Operators can expect access to relief funding
Specifically, assisted living providers will see $40 million in relief funding, although restrictions exist. They cannot use funding for contract workers, staffing agencies, executives, administrators or owners.
A bill passed earlier in the week in the Ohio House would have expanded the assisted living waiver rate using a tier structure based on Medicaid occupancy, but it was not adopted by the Senate.
Another $10 million for home- and community-based services and $30 million for hospices also are constrained by the same restrictions for assisted living providers.
The bill also includes language to expand the PACE to underserved metro areas in Akron, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Lorain and Toledo. It also allows for the establishment of PACE programs in other parts of the state if providers are interested. Ohio currently has only one PACE organization: McGregor PACE in Cuyahoga County, where Cleveland is located.
Nursing homes will receive $350 million in aid through ARPA funds — significantly less than the $615 million passed in the House last week, but an increase from the Senate’s original $305 million proposal.
Adult day services are on tap to receive $8 million in grant funding.
LeadingAge Ohio pointed out that since the bill contains federal ARPA dollars, the governor can line-item veto certain provisions of the bill. The association is joining other housing stakeholders to ask DeWine to use that line-item veto to remove language related to tax valuations of low-income housing properties.
As it stands, the bill would change the basis for real estate tax assessments for subsidized housing properties, which LeadingAge Ohio had said would be “devastating” for affordable housing across the state.
