AHCA-Alliance Praise Bush Administration for Reversing Planned Medicare Cuts, Protecting...

AHCA-Alliance Praise Bush Administration for Reversing Planned Medicare Cuts,
Protecting Seniors

Senate, House Members Demonstrate Strong, Bipartisan Leadership in Helping to
Avert $770 Million FY 2009 Cut in Medicare Funding for Care of America's
Seniors

WASHINGTON, July 31 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Health Care
Association (AHCA) and the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care applaud
today's decision by the Bush Administration to reverse proposed Medicare cuts,
crediting a number of key Republican and Democratic congressional leaders with
spearheading the successful effort to avert $770 million cuts to U.S. seniors'
Medicare Part A nursing home care in FY 2009 and more than $5 billion over
five years.

"The bottom-line news from today's announcement is that Medicare beneficiaries
are deservedly the big winners, and will continue to benefit from ready access
to the high quality, post-acute care they need and deserve," stated Bruce
Yarwood, President and CEO of AHCA. "Members of the House and Senate have
worked effectively in bipartisan fashion with the Administration to ensure
U.S. seniors' ongoing care needs are protected."

Alan G. Rosenbloom, President of the Alliance, stated, "From a policy
standpoint, this is an outstanding development in terms of both meeting
seniors' changing health care needs, and doing so in a manner that uses
Medicare funds efficiently. The Administration and Congress deserve enormous
credit for working in an intelligent, collegial, bipartisan manner to help
achieve today's positive results."

Specifically, AHCA and the Alliance praised Senators Kent Conrad (D-ND) Norm
Coleman (R-MN) and John Sununu (R-NH), and House Members Earl Pomeroy (D-ND),
Shelley Berkley (D-NV), and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), who rallied the
support of nearly half the U.S. Senate and over 110 Members of the U.S. House
of Representatives, urging CMS to prevent any cuts.

Yarwood and Rosenbloom also said the long term care profession will be
expressing thanks to a large number of U.S. Senate and House members in the
coming days for their leadership and help in working with the White House and
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to stop the Medicare
regulation from going into effect.

AHCA and the Alliance praised the Administration for moving forward on many
fronts related to quality improvement that have made a positive difference in
seniors' quality of care and quality of life. Yarwood and Rosenbloom said that
the profession is grateful that the Administration's action taken today will
provide further support for successful quality improvement initiatives in the
future.

SOURCE American Health Care Association; Alliance for Quality Nursing Home
Care

CONTACTS: Donna Doneski of AHCA, +1-202-898-6321; or Debra DeShong Reed of
Alliance, +1-202-528-4214