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Medicaid Issue Causes Fear for Colorado Families

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Apr 27, 2009 7:31 pm US/Mountain

Medicaid Issue Causes Fear for Colorado Families

Written by Rick Sallinger
DENVER (CBS4) ― The state of Colorado says it has to change its system of Medicaid payments to the facilities that house 28 people on ventilators or have severe wounds. Despite assurances from the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, the families of the patients fear it could result in separation from those they love.

Ian Pearson has lost the use of his arms, his legs -- almost all his body. What he lives for is his family. With a sensor strapped to his forehead, he taps out letters on a computer that speak the words he cannot utter.

"It is obvious that the small group who (is) making this change has no understanding of the level of care that goes on here," Pearson said through the computer.

Pearson was an endurance athlete and hydro-geologist when stricken with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis -- also called Lou Gehrig's Disease. He now spends his life in a hospital bed on a machine that breathes for him.

"Initially I don't know if he would survive a trip out of state," his wife, Kate Pearson, told CBS4. "Emotionally it would be devastating to him and our family."

Pearson is among more than two dozen requiring long-term specialized care. If Medicaid payments to the nursing facilities are cut some fear the patients could be moved out of state.

Joe Plascencia is on a ventilator in Pueblo.

"To move him would kill him. It would kill my mother. It would devastate our family," Plascencia's daughter, Charlotte Zupan, said.

Families of those in what's called the "Hospital Back Up Program" met with state Medicaid administrators to try to convey their desperation and that of their loved ones.

Jason Paris became a quadriplegic after diving off a boat 14 years ago. The thought of him being moved out of state leaves his father Doug nearly in tears.

"We simply would move," Doug said. "The small business that I have is only secondary to family."

Paris is among those at the Vista View Care Center in Thornton. It is paid by Medicaid to house people like him.

"We want to say to these families and providers that we heard what they had to say and we are taking what they have to say very seriously," Sue Williamson of the State Department of Health Care Policy and Financing said.

Williamson says they won't get federal dollars if they don't comply with federal regulations, and that means changing how they pay the long-term care facilities.

Paris says if he had to leave Colorado "it would be devastating because my support group is here."

Despite all the concern of the families, the state says Medicaid rules make it clear patients cannot be moved out of state unless it is mutually agreeable between the patient and the facilities.

Long-term discussions have been taking place between the state and the providers for the patients.

(© MMIX CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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