ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
Darcey Adams, left, and Joseph Moore of Pond View at Briarcliff Lodge in Lynn review material for the hearing they will attend in Boston.
By THOR JOURGENSEN
LYNN — Darcey Adams is not only Pond View at Briarcliff Lodge’s acting director, she is also the point person for senior health care providers pushing for an increase in their state reimbursement rate.
Adams, who is also president of the Massachusetts Adult Day Services Association, said the $58 a day reimbursement adult day health providers now receive from the state falls short of the $70 a day client service cost for providers.
“All across the state, programs are losing money,” Adams said.
Executive Office of Health and Human Services spokeswoman Michelle Hillman confined the department’s comments on providers’ rate concerns Wednesday to the following statement:
“MassHealth appreciates the feedback from providers and advocates who attended Monday’s public hearing on the proposed regulations. We will continue to consider feedback from subsequent hearings as well as weighing cost reports as part of our analysis. Once all the information has been collected and analyzed we will make a determination.”
Adams said 25 out of 150 senior adult day health providers could run out of money and close if the state does not adjust the rate. Located in city-owned Briarcliff Lodge overlooking Sluice Pond, Pond View provides activities and therapy to help seniors retain and strengthen memory and health services, including nursing care.
Adams said almost 15,000 seniors attend Pond View and other programs every weekday and receive different types of care.
“Family members and caregivers depend on adult day health to provide care for their loved ones so they can continue to work. Without adult day health services, family caregivers would be forced to give up their jobs, or make the difficult choice to transfer their loved one to a nursing home prematurely,” she said.
Adult day health care helps seniors stay in their homes and receive health services and physical therapy at a program like Pond View, said Massachusetts Senior Action Council community organizer Pam Edwards.
“It’s much cheaper than a nursing home. If the state wants to truly save tax dollars, it should spend tax dollars in long-term care,” Edwards said.
She said adult day health care will become more important over the next five to 10 years as the number of Massachusetts residents 60 years old and older triples, even quadruples.
Adams said state officials last approved an adult day health rate increase in 2012 and said a new, higher rate needs to be set through 2018 to provide providers with some financial stability. She said Pond View’s financial outlook is not as bleak as other providers’ because of the city’s assistance in providing space in Briarcliff for the program to operate.
“It makes all the difference in the world,” she said.
Thor Jourgensen can be reached at tjourgensen@itemlive.com.