Cooperstown News Bureau

COOPERSTOWN - A new concept for operating the county's nursing home was presented during Wednesday night's meeting of the Otsego County Board of Representatives.

The approach may lead the county to seek sicker nursing home residents and hire nurse managers who will oversee most aspects of operating sections of the nursing home.

Russ Bachman, fiscal manager of The Meadows, and Dennis Smith, the nursing home's administrator, explained that the state's funding of public nursing homes discourages the admission of people who are essentially able to care for themselves.

Unfortunately, from a fiscal perspective, The Meadows — Otsego County's nursing home — has an abundance of people in this category, Bachman said. When people require more care, the state pays more to care for them, he said.

When nursing home residents require little care, they cost the county money, he said. The county stands to lose about $2.3 million next year on taking care of residents who receive Medicaid, he noted. Many of these people could live at home or in an adult home, but at present there is no place for them to go, he said.

When the county's new nursing home — Otsego Manor — opens, the county board would be wise to have two of the new facility's five "neighborhoods" reserved for people who can essentially care for themselves, with the other three for people who require more expensive and reimbursable services, he said.

At the same time, the county must immediately begin to attract nurses. Just this week, the Meadows had to turn away a stroke victim because of a lack in staff, Bachman said.

To attract nurses, he proposed hiring nurses who are unit managers at a salary of at least $50,000 a year, he said.

Rep. Gregory Relic, R-Unadilla, asked if nurses could be found at that salary and Bachman said he hoped so. Smith said the nursing shortage is going to be long-term and only by moving boldly, changing the staffing and the mix of residents, will The Meadows or Otsego Manor run in the black.

Rep. Donald Lindberg asked whether turning away healthier people might be discrimination, but Smith said the beds in the nursing home have to go to those who need them most. Others not ready for nursing homes may have to live at home longer or find assisted-living facilities, he said.