Correction: Governor DeWine releases budget proposal 'Blue Book'

 

Following Governor DeWine's State of the State address yesterday, the Governor's office released the executive budget proposal ("the Blue Book") for SFY 2024-2025 early this morning. It is now available on the Office of Budget & Management's website. 

This represents the first step in Ohio's biennial budget process and provides the Governor with a chance to name his priorities to begin the process. The Blue Book offers high-level summaries of proposals by Administration, but lacks important detail on budget assumptions and projections, including Medicaid reimbursement rates. Medicaid does state, “The Department will prioritize provider rate changes approved through the budget process and their impacts on workforce and service provision,” but providers will need to wait until the Director of Medicaid’s testimony before the House Finance Committee later this month for additional detail.

The executive budget proposal includes:

• Book One: Budget Recommendations
• Book Two: Tax Expenditure Report
• Book Three: Budget Highlights

Items addressed in the executive budget proposal that pertain to LeadingAge Ohio members include the following:

• PACE. The Program for All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) was called out specifically in the Budget Recommendations (Book One) as the Ohio Department of Aging’s top highlight: The budget expands the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) from one county to seven counties. This program is a managed care model that provides participants with needed health care, medical care, and ancillary services. 
  
  
• Affordable housing. The executive budget proposes several tax policy changes to address administration priorities, including the creation of a state low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC). One proposal involves a new tax credit for the development and rehabilitation of low-income multifamily rental housing in this state. The program would be administered by the Ohio Housing Finance Agency and would reserve up to $100 million per year to developers of qualifying projects, over a total of four years. Total credits allowed under the program would amount to $400 million. Taxpayers receiving tax credit allocations would claim 10 percent of their full credit annually over 10 years. The credit would support developers to increase the supply of safe, high-quality, and affordable housing to lower-income Ohioans. Another proposal involves a tax credit for the development of affordable single-family housing. A total of $50 million in annual credits would be reserved for developers of qualifying projects, provided over four years. This amounts to $200 million in total credits awarded by this program. Credit recipients would take these credits over 10 years. 
  
  
• Aging services grants. The executive budget proposal also names the Administration's intention to provide grants to home- and community-based services providers. Specifically, the Blue Book suggests $40M in Healthy Aging Grants to Local Partners and $6M to support AGE Home and Community Based Services, likely to be used to expand that division of the Ohio Department of Aging Administratively. 
  
  
• Dementia care. The proposal increases resources and caregiver supports by investing in the Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementia Respite Line, increasing access to dementia education by 100 percent and personal care services by 50 percent. Funding will also support the establishment of a statewide dementia coordinator to ensure greater continuity of resources for all impacted by dementia.
  
  
• Improving nutrition, social connectedness, and transportation. Over 55 local partners will have the opportunity to receive grants and implement projects including at least 10 nutrition projects and 12 social connectedness projects. The Department wants to invest in the Senior Community Services Line to more effectively target and prioritize the most in-need populations and reduce waiting lists for services. The number of overall consumers served would be increased by 50 percent (10,800 to 15,800), with an emphasis on increasing nutrition and transportation priority services by 40 percent and 70 percent respectively
  
  
• At home technology pilot program. The proposal suggests $250K may be allocated to support an at home technology pilot program, which follows a suggestion by LeadingAge Ohio to explore artificial intelligence (AI) pilots in home care. 

In regard to skilled nursing facilities, Governor DeWine emphasized correcting preventable tragedies due to systemic problems such as poor infection control, medication errors, failure to provide care, and elder abuse. In the State of the State, he shared that Ohio ranks 39th in the most recent CMS overall Quality Star Ratings and facilities have inconsistent compliance with standards of care. A task force will be appointed to study the issues surrounding quality of life and care in nursing homes, and he shared that any discussion around rebasing would have to include quality incentives. 

 

The legislature now begins its work to craft their version of the budget bill, beginning in the Ohio House of Representatives. LeadingAge Ohio will continue to share information on the executive budget proposal, including specific rate proposals, when the legislative language is released in the coming weeks. For questions on the executive budget proposal, please reach out to Susan Wallace at swallace@leadingageohio.org.