MASON CITY, IA - Every day Linda and her fellow nurses help care for about two-hundred people at Good Shepherd in Mason City. It's a fulfilling job, but it's not necessarily a popular one in many smaller and older communities.
The center's administrator, Mike Svejda, explained, "they're having a difficult time getting employees, first of all, just population-wise, and the decrease in Iowa's population. And then retaining those qualified individuals to work in facilities."
That's because this important work doesn't always bring home a substantial salary. Svejda said they hang on to workers by offering good wages and benefits. But many other homes can only pay minimum wage.
A new law is aimed at changing that.
Senator Amanda Ragan commented, "we're looking at this as an opportunity to help the nursing facilities."
Here's the break-down - Good Shepherd will pay $5.29 to the state, per patient, per day. They'll get that money back, plus an extra ten bucks from the federal government.
Senator Ragan "it gives them the ability to draw down two dollars for every one dollar they put in."
If it sounds too good to be true - it's not.
"Thirty-three other states already have this quality assurance assessment fee," Svejda said.
The federal money comes from a Medicaid match program. Iowa lawmakers are requiring sixty percent of the new money pay for employees salaries. The hope is to hire, and keep, more workers like Linda in Iowa's nursing facilities.
Senator Ragan told KIMT, "much of it's going to go for direct care workers that are working very diligently to take care of the frail and elderly."
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services still need to give their okay to Iowa's plan. There are also some drawbacks to the law - homes with very few patients using Medicaid, which is a state funded plan, may not receive a full reimbursement of their fees.
