Health care facilities leaders talk legislative priorities with Senate Pres. Robert Stivers

While the 2023 session of the Kentucky General Assembly will officially start in January, work to prepare for the legislative session is already underway.

Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers was in Corbin Monday to meet with representatives of the Kentucky Association of Health Care Facilities/Kentucky Center for Assisted Living to discuss issues and concerns that association members have ahead of the January 2023 session of the Kentucky General Assembly. From left, Forcht Group of Kentucky Executive Director of Corporate Affairs and Government Relations Michael Noftsger, Kentucky Association of Health Care Facilities/Kentucky Center for Assisted Living President/Executive Director Elizabeth “Betsy” Johnson, Executive Vice President Reina Diaz-Dempsey, Forcht Group of Kentucky Founder, Chairman and CEO Terry Forcht, and Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers.

Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers visited Corbin Monday morning to meet with representatives from the Kentucky Association of Health Care Facilities/Kentucky Center for Assisted Living, or as some people would call it, the nursing home industry, he noted.

Stivers said that prior to the beginning of legislative sessions in January, he meets with various groups and associations in November and December to talk about issues that they are facing.

Kentucky Association of Health Care Facilities/Kentucky Center for Assisted Living President/Executive Director Elizabeth “Betsy” Johnson said that coming off the pandemic the industry is still suffering from workforce issues and staff shortages.

“It is very difficult to hire people in skilled nursing facilities, especially because we are very dependent on Medicaid funding, which by design is the lowest payer. It makes it very difficult for us to be competitive in the work force,” Johnson said prior to the meeting.

“Because it is not a budget session, we won’t necessarily be talking about Medicaid funding but we will be talking about workforce shortages. We will be talking about the regulatory environment. We will be talking about the increased costs we are facing with inflation that is happening across the country as well. Again, we are just keeping President Stivers informed because we know he likes to keep his caucus informed. That makes my job easier when I come to Frankfort in January.”

Another meeting participant was Executive Vice President Reina Diaz-Dempsey, who is new to the association, having worked there for about one month. She isn’t new to such meetings though, having retired after working 28 years in state government.

Diaz-Dempsey noted that she is enjoying being on the other side of these meetings.

“The one thing that I tell everybody that I have learned in this very short time is that there are two sides to every story,” she added.

Monday’s meeting was held at Forcht Group in Corbin.

“I am just delighted that we have this opportunity to get together. We can tell, as an industry, what is needed. Inflation, as you know, is quite rampant and the cost of doing business is up. We would like to present some information that will be helpful to the people in Frankfort making these decisions about Medicaid,” said Forcht Group of Kentucky Founder, Chairman and CEO Terry Forcht.

Johnson added that Forcht is a valuable member of the association with several long-term healthcare facilities, and he is a constituent of Stivers.

Johnson noted that during meetings with legislators, she likes to have association members present so they can better inform their legislators about the particular issues that they are facing in addition to industry-wide issues.