By Aaron Bolton/Murphy News Service
A bill winding its way through the Minnesota House of Representatives might help Princeton and Milaca County area long-term care facilities better compete with surrounding metro counties.
The proposed bill (House No. 173), discussed in committee Wednesday, would change the reimbursement rates for long-term care facilities within Mille Lacs, Isanti, Kanabec, Pine and Chisago counties. All the more-populated counties to the north and south of those five are allotted more long-term care funding than those counties which designated “rural.”
Rep. Jason Rarick (R-District 11-B, Pine County) author of the bill, said, “We become a training ground. Our staff come in fresh out of school, get training, and head to other areas where they can receive a higher rate (of pay).”
Todd Lundeen, campus administrator of Elim Care & Rehab Center in Princeton testified before the House Aging and Long Term Care Policy Committee about how difficult it is to retain employees.
“Oftentimes they (potential employees) hedge their bets when they apply. They are applying for other places as well,” Lundeen said. “If something else opens up that’s better not too far away and that’s a metro nursing home, they’re going to make $5,000 to $8,000 a year more just by jumping ship and leaving.”
Lundeen’s facility in Princeton lies six blocks north of the county line that splits the city into rural Benton County and metro Sherburne County. He said after the session he doesn’t blame staff, comprised of mostly women and single parents, for leaving. “It’s the same work. Just a little bit of a commute,” Lundeen said.
This bill, if passed, would allocate more money to facilities such as Lundeen’s allowing them to better compete and put them on a “more level playing field with other nursing homes near by that are metro,” Lundeen said.
The committee voted to refer the measure to the House Human Services and Finance Committee.
Committee members Reps. Barb Yarusso (DFL-District 42-A, Ramsey County) and Jack Considine Jr. (DFL-District 19-B, Blue Earth County) said they were frustrated with the “broken system” during the hearing, and voiced a preference for an all-encompassing bill to help long-term care facilities throughout the state rather than a “piecemeal fashion.”
Reporter Aaron Bolton is studying journalism at the University of Minnesota.