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Home > Blogs > Butler County News and Issues > Archives > 2008 > July > 03 > Entry
Care Facility struggling to make ends ‘meat’
If you’re a long-term patient at the Butler County Care Facility these days, you’re more likely to have pork for dinner instead of chicken.
That’s because the price of chicken — like gas, pharmacy items and other expenses — are on the increase, forcing agencies like the one housed off Princeton Road to scramble for dollars with six months left in 2008.
Making matters worse, state-based Medicaid reimbursements — which account for a majority of the facility’s budget — have been stagnant for the past four years, and in some years have dropped. In addition, indirect costs have risen nearly $120,000 per year, according to county records.
“I think it’s going to be a rough period of time,” said Chuck Demidovich, Butler County Care Facility administrator. “We’re trying to do all this with the same amount of money we were taking in before.”
UPDATE: The Columbus Dispatch featured a story on Sunday about potential cuts in Medicaid. Read that story here.
See the e-mail request by the facility here:
A request to transfer funds from one line item to another in the facility’s budget was tabled Monday because the county’s finance department needed more information. The issue is expected to be considered at the commission’s next meeting July 10.
In an e-mail to Finance Director Robert Lowery, Demidovich requested to move $203,000 around in various funds.
The Care Facility does not use money from the county’s general fund. Rather, it’s a self-sustaining fund similar to the county’s utility funds.
The Care Facility, which is expected to serve nearly 350 clients this year, will continue to do more with less, Demidovich said. Pharmacy bills have traditionally added to nearly $9,000 per month in years past. This year, thanks to Medicaid reimbursements, it’s more than doubled to approximately $20,000 per month.
And although the Medicaid reimbursement rate is frozen until June 30, 2009 — the end of the state’s fiscal year — Demidovich said it could drop once again.
Demidovich said food expenses for the facility are up 13 percent from last year, the cost for pharmacy items is up nearly 9 percent and the annual cost for fuel is expected to double.
“Food has been an absolute killer this year,” he said. “And what are you supposed to tell the patient, you can’t get your medications?”
That’s not an option, Demidovich said, but exchanging chicken for pork is.
See the rest of the county’s transfer and appropriation requests here:
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