WASHINGTON, Feb. 27, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- With the clock ticking on March 1, 2013 Medicare cuts to nursing homes resulting from the onset of the federal Budget Relief Act's sequester provision, the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care (AQNHC) today released a state "Top Ten List" detailing the Medicare cut total to state nursing homes, their patients and their workforce. The data source is Avalere Health, a non-partisan health policy research firm.

"With the sequester just hours away, now is the optimal time for us to convey that the sequester cuts are just one in a series of deep Medicare funding reductions that add up to significantly larger state level cuts and $65.6 billion cumulative national Medicare cuts over ten years," stated Alan G. Rosenbloom, President of the Alliance. "The Friday sequester is not the end of anything -- it's simply the beginning of another long, arduous and highly consequential cycle of debate where data and policy solutions to control Medicare costs are the coin of the realm with lawmakers."

The top ten Medicare sequestration state cuts to nursing homes are as follows: CA $75.9 million; FL $66 million; TX $51 million; NY $47.2 million; IL $46.2 million; NJ $37.5 million; OH $37.3 million; PA $36.9 million; MI $30.2 million; MA $28.4 million; U.S. $782.5 million. Other state cuts detailed in chart are result of other budget and regulatory changes since 2009. Alan Rosenbloom available for additional comment on the cuts/reg changes via below phone contact.

FY 2014 is the first full fiscal year of sequestration reductions under the Budget Control Act; the sequestration provisions take effect on March 1, 2013; Additional state data and methodology notes available at www.aqnhc.org.

Contact: Rebecca Reid
410-212-3843

SOURCE Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care