HARRISBURG, PA (Home Care Wire) Home care providers hoping their states will put more money into home care and reduce long-term care spending in institutions have an uphill battle against nursing home lobbyists.

Home health agencies in Pennsylvania are learning that lesson the hard way, since Gov. Ed Rendell (D) is trying to rebalance LTC spending in favor of home care.

A nursing home lobbying coalition called Pennsylvanians for Quality Care and the nursing home trade group Pennsylvania Health Care Association told a recent state Senate panel hearing that nursing homes were getting shortchanged in the process of funding more home care, according to the Associated Press.

“A claim by nursing home interests that home health care is draining resources from nursing homes is ‘factually false and destructive to broad-based efforts to make limited public dollars go further in providing medical and health services for all Pennsylvanians,’” fires back Vicki Hoak of the Pennsylvania Homecare Association in a release.

“The nursing home industry has seen its reimbursement rates climb 22 percent in just the past five years,” Hoak notes. “By contrast, home health care providers have not seen an increase in reimbursement rates for four years. Before that increase, the reimbursement rate had been stagnant for thirteen years.”