Mitch Leupp, Administrator, ManorCare Health Services Minot
It is with great appreciation from our patients and staff at ManorCare Health Services Minot that Heidi Heitkamp took the time to recently tour our facility, where we care for hundreds of our local community's most vulnerable elderly and disabled citizens each year. As the facility administrator, I see daily the great success we have in improving the health of our patients, boosting their ability to return home as quickly as possible, and helping to reduce costly rehospitalizations.
But it is only with stable and adequate Medicare funding from Washington that we can continue to provide the level of care our patients require. North Dakota seniors and facilities like ours have already been battered by a series of highly destabilizing federal funding cuts over the past several years. Another Medicare funding reduction in January 2013 prompted by automatic across the board cuts mandated by Congress as part of the Budget Control Act would be devastating to our patients and our workforce.
We are already caring for rising numbers of patients, requiring higher levels of care, and with staff under severe stress. More Washington Medicare cuts as the default policy option is wrong for seniors, taxpayers and the effectiveness of our healthcare system. We applaud Heitkamp's interest in understanding the needs of North Dakota seniors, the importance of stable Medicare funding, and how facilities like ours are ultimately part of the solution to keeping health care costs under control.