How will Medicaid redesign affect long-term care?

NEWBURGH — How the state's redesign of Medicaid will affect long-term care is the topic of the next Orange County Chamber Of Commerce breakfast meeting, to be held at 7:27 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 21, at the Ramada Inn in Newburgh The guest speaker will be Todd A. Whitney, president and chief executive officer of Elant nursing homes. The breakfast will be sponsored by United Way of Dutchess and Orange County. Whitney was Elant's chief financial officer for 25 years prior to his selection as president last October. He is a licensed nursing home administrator through the state. He earned his bachelor's degree from Syracuse University and MBA from Pace University. While at Elant, he helped build the organization from a single nursing home in Goshen to seven campuses located across five counties. The cost is $25 for members in advance and $30 at the door and $50 for non-members. For reservations call 457-9700 or visit www.orangeny.com. About the redesign Governor Cuomo tasked his Medicaid Redesign Team, dominated by health care providers and public officials, to find ways to reduce costs in the program for the 2011-12 fiscal year. The team agreed to hold state spending on the major portion of Medicaid to $15.1 billion next year and to hold future growth to a 10-year rolling average of medical inflation. The plan will cut payments to providers and managed care companies while subsidizing failing hospitals, nursing homes and clinics as they restructure or close. It will limit rehabilitative and housekeeping services. Medicaid patients will pay $3.40 in co-payments for clinic visits and brand name drugs rather than the $3. They will have to pay $30, $5 more, for a hospital stay.