Baptist Homes Benevolence History – A Complicated Story Part 5
To this point, we have explored the necessary creation of the Benevolent Fund as the major source of funding for Baptist Homes, enabling The Home to care for those who lacked the resources to cover the cost of that care. As modern nursing care was established for the care of aging seniors in the last half of the 20th century, a quandary arose for The Baptist Home. In a world where more and more aging seniors were utilizing the federal government as the payor source for their long-term care needs, how long could The Baptist Home survive depending upon donations to cover the ever-increasing cost of care for seniors?
In our last installment, we explored the development of the Benevolent Task Force and the entrance into the world of Medicare and Medicaid services. This entrance was facilitated by the purchase of existing Medicare/Medicaid homes and the discovery that participating in Medicare/Medicaid was possible at our legacy campuses.
At this point, I would like to explore the philosophical issues participating in government funding sources brought to Baptist Homes. When Medicare and Medicaid services were first introduced in 1965, The Baptist Home chose not to participate in this plan as we already had 50+ years of experience in funding care for our residents. There was also a concern that receiving government funds would bring unwanted intrusion and regulations.
Today, nearly 60 years after the creation of Medicare/Medicaid services and the modern, highly regulated world of long-term care, we now are challenged to find a way forward in a world where 84% of seniors use Medicare/Medicaid services to pay for their long-term care costs. In the mid-1990s, the benevolent cost per resident at The Baptist Home was $15,000 annually. By 2022, that cost had ballooned to nearly $60,000 annually. This increased cost brought us to a moment of crisis. Do we stay the course and run the risk of becoming increasingly irrelevant or do we move into the world of government funding where 98% of other long-term care providers served?
Before entering the world of Medicare/Medicaid services, Baptist Homes faced the same regulatory processes as any long-term care provider. Even though we did not receive government funding, we faced the same regulatory processes.
Having entered the world of Medicare/Medicaid services at our Adrian, Vandalia, Arcadia Valley, and soon-to-be Ashland and Shelbina campuses, we have learned several things. First, the engagement process is complicated and time-consuming. Second, the process has brought Baptist Homes into the world of most long-term care providers—before this, we were on the outside looking in. Third, we are now able to offer services to more seniors than we could in the past. Too often, we were saying no due to a lack of private funding for those needing financial support.
Recently, we have learned of a program offered through Medicaid Services which is making it possible to offer care to those needing assisted living who are unable to cover the cost of assisted living care. Medicaid’s Home & Community Based Services provides resources to supplement the cost of care for seniors in their homes or at assisted living campuses such as ours at Arcadia Valley, Adrian, Ashland, Vandalia, and eventually at our Ozark Campus.
This opportunity led our board to transition our Benevolence Task Force to meet these new opportunities. In our next installment, we will explore this new opportunity as a bridge for our donors between the past needs of our ministry and future opportunities.
Next time… explore a new opportunity to remain a blessing to those who need our support.
By Dr. Ron Mackey, Vice President, Community Engagement
