As the president of a multifacility company with arguably the highest quality rating in the State of Florida, I feel compelled to respond to the misguided comments about the proposed Prospective Payment System (PPS).

The current proposal, for the first time in Florida Medicaid history, will create a true incentive for long-term care centers to provide higher quality care to our residents.

The current system of reimbursement for nursing homes provides no incentive for operators to deliver higher quality care, no incentive to be efficient and no incentive to invest capital to upgrade centers. In addition, at a time when our country is trying to simplify government programs, the current system is overly complicated and overly burdensome on state agencies.