Louisville, KY-based nursing home chain Signature HealthCARE will cut 100 jobs at its headquarters due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to The Courier Journal.

The firm, which operates 110 skilled care facilities across 10 states and is the largest nursing home provider in Kentucky, blamed the job cuts on the state’s refusal to provide an increase in Medicaid funding to help offset costs to purchase personal protective equipment and increase staffing levels.

The state’s Medicaid program helps cover care costs for most of Kentucky’s nursing home residents.

“We have had to make some very tough decisions that are nothing short of heartbreaking for our company,” CEO E. Joseph Steier III told the Journal. “The entire healthcare continuum has been disrupted in ways never experienced before, and the associated costs have been astronomical.”

The positions Signature eliminated last week consisted of support and leadership staffers, with severance packages based on time of service, the firm said.

This article appeared in the McKnight’s Business Daily, a joint effort of McKnight’s Senior Living and McKnight’s Long-Term Care News.