Silver Lake\u2019s top 2009 Medicaid reimbursement rates<\/a> were about $211 for a regular unit and $549 for a ventilator unit. In 2025, those top numbers had only increased to $292 for a regular unit and $576 for a ventilator unit. Per the Bureau of Labor Statistics\u2019 inflation calculator<\/a>, $211 in 2009 dollars would be about $324 today and $549 would be about $843.<\/p>\n Kraus estimated that if the facility charged a patient out-of-pocket for a ventilator unit it would run at a cost of about $750 a day. The lawsuit makes clear that the low reimbursement rates for ventilator residents is the biggest burden for the nursing home. Kraus says Silver Lake\u2019s ventilator unit was the first in the state.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re getting reimbursed under 35 cents on the dollar,\u201d Kraus said. \u201cThere\u2019s the temptation for people to just give up, or facilities to just give up and not provide care, and that is, by the way, that\u2019s why you\u2019re seeing such bad care everywhere, because ultimately, everyone\u2019s losing money.\u201d<\/p>\n Silver Lake also hasn\u2019t been able to access grants from the state for which it should be eligible, including funding it applied for in 2024 and has yet to hear a determination on.<\/p>\n A for-profit organization, Silver Lake says in its lawsuit that it hasn\u2019t been in the black since 2008.<\/p>\n Another issue for which the nursing home seeks relief in its lawsuit is its performance in the state\u2019s Nursing Home Quality Initiative, an annual evaluation of the state\u2019s nursing facilities that can penalize poor performers. <\/p>\n The evaluation, which relies largely on self-reported data, measures a variety of metrics, including vaccination rates for staff and long-term residents, those residents\u2019 health outcomes at the facilities, and several staffing items.<\/p>\n Silver Lake\u2019s placement in the bottom 20% of New York nursing homes in recent years has led to annual penalties of about $100,000, according to the nursing home\u2019s lawsuit.<\/p>\n Kraus largely tied the poor performance to low vaccine rates at Silver Lake, and general attitudes about vaccinations across the borough.<\/p>\n \u201cI know Staten Islanders do not want to take vaccines, so I\u2019m not going to be one to force them,” he said. <\/p>\n Several other Staten Island nursing homes found themselves in the bottom quintile of the 2024 Nursing Home Quality Initiative, the most recent year for which the full list is available. Two Staten Island facilities, Carmel Richmond Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center and Sea View Hospital, Rehabilitation Center and Home made that year\u2019s top 20%.<\/p>\n Silver Lake\u2019s lawsuit asks the court to stop the state from assessing penalties related to the performance metric as they argue it violates their Eighth Amendment rights. The Eighth Amendment protects against the imposition of excessive fines.<\/p>\n The state has yet to respond to the Silver Lake lawsuit in court as of Wednesday, and a Health Department spokesperson declined comment on pending litigation.<\/p>\n The spokesperson pointed to a variety of items passed in recent state budgets aimed at improving nursing home funding, and another $1.5 billion for Medicaid rate investments in Gov. Kathy Hochul\u2019s proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year. <\/p>\n State Sen. Jessica Scarcella-Spanton and Assemblymember Charles Fall, Democrats in the State Legislature representing districts that include the Silver Lake nursing home, both said they\u2019re aware of the facility\u2019s issues and are working with their colleagues\u2019 on solutions. <\/p>\n \u201cI was recently made aware of the lawsuit filed by Silver Lake Specialized Care Center against the state of New York. I cannot comment on the details of the lawsuit, however I had multiple meetings with Silver Lake leadership about the issues facing the facility, staff, and patients, and know that there are a factor of funding issues that impact their operations,\u201d Scarcella-Spanton said. \u201cIn my capacity, I have introduced legislation to create a respiratory therapy demonstration program for residential health care facilities like Silver Lake, which would foster better outcomes for both New Yorkers and facilities such as this one.\u201d<\/p>\n The senator introduced the legislation last year and has secured a single co-sponsor. The bill would allow the state health commissioner to approve 10 New York residential health care facilities, including nursing homes, to operate respiratory therapy units.<\/p>\n \u201cLong-term care providers shouldn\u2019t be pushed into a downward spiral where financial penalties make it harder to hire and retain staff and harder to improve care. New York\u2019s quality incentives need to be paired with reimbursement rates that reflect real costs, especially for facilities serving high-need residents,\u201d Fall said. \u201cI\u2019m closely reviewing the situation involving Silver Lake Specialized Rehabilitation and Care Center, and I\u2019ll continue working with state health officials to improve reimbursement stability, strengthen accountability with real support, and protect residents and families from disruption.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 Leadership at a Staten Island nursing home says it could soon close its doors…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124982,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-124981","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Kraus](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/G47MVA57HBCHNMP57HDEF6PXVY.JPG\")
Senator Charles Schumer is greeted by Michael Krause, administrator at Silver Lake Specialized Care Center, as Schumer urgently appeals to House members across New York City to vote “NO” on an upcoming plan by the Trump administration. This plan aims to fast-track significant cuts totaling $880 billion to Medicaid, which could have serious consequences. Monday, March 31, 2025.(Advance\/SILive.com|Jan Somma-Hammel)<\/p>\n