STAR NEWS ONLINE: NC ups count of care homes at risk in pay conflict

By MICHAEL BIESECKER

Associated Press
Published: Wednesday, September 7, 2011 at 5:16 p.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, September 7, 2011 at 5:16 p.m.


RALEIGH, N.C. - North Carolina officials have increased their estimate of the number of people with mental illness who may have to leave adult care homes because of a conflict with the federal government over how the state pays for their care.

State officials said this week the number of facilities whose patients may have to leave has increased from 38 to 52, potentially putting more than 1,200 residents out of the facilities where they are now living.

"We're working on this constantly," said Lanier Cansler, secretary of the N.C. Department Health and Human Services. "The problem is there's no easy solution."

DHHS spokeswoman Renee McCoy also said this week that the state had missed a Sept. 1 deadline to provide a plan to federal regulators.

But Cansler clarified Wednesday that his spokeswoman was incorrect. There had never been a hard deadline to have the work done, he said.

"Originally, the feds had suggested that we try to do the assessments on these facilities by September," Cansler said. "We haven't missed any deadlines. The question was how soon could we get the assessments. We're preparing to start the assessments soon, over the next couple months."

The federal agency that oversees Medicaid notified the state earlier this year that it was in violation for using the medical program to pay for the care of people with mental illness housed in dozens of adult care homes scattered across the state.

Medicaid rules forbid payment for care in facilities where more than half of the residents have a primary diagnosis of mental illness.

Medicaid officials could respond by ordering the state to stop payment to adult care homes termed as institutes of mental disease.

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