Officials question legality of counties sharing nursing homes

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State health regulators question the legality of local government nursing homes which serve more than one county.

In the La Crosse area, officials are looking at a new way to collaborate after a dozen counties were told they could not form a corporation to cover their share of costs in a regional home.

The state said the corporate concept was barred for nursing homes that get federal money.

Medicaid only covers some of the costs anyway and La Crosse County formed the corporate to get other counties to pay for the residents they send there.

Before, La Crosse County taxpayers were on the hook for that – subsidizing out-of-county residents to the tune of millions of dollars a year.

Many county homes are struggling and a couple of corporate arrangements were considered for southeast Wisconsin.

Sinikka Santala of the state’s health agency says multi-county homes would be OK if counties formed agreements without resorting to forming corporations.

She says they’re on the right path and the state wants to encourage joint cooperation.

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