Long term care providers faced the highest level of underfunding last year, according to a new report.

Long Term Care Provider Report

The nation's largest long-term care provider association American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living released a report which details the long term care costs incurred across the country and those that were reimbursed by Medicaid. 2013 was the year providers saw the greatest disparity in costs and payment of all time.

Long term care providers incurred $7.7 billion in eligible costs in 2013 that were not reimbursed by Medicaid. Analysts from Eljay LLC gathered data from Medicaid cost reports and long term care providers to create the report for the association.

In addition to the Medicaid underfunding, Medicare cuts are also taking a toll on providers who are not being fully reimbursed for their services. Providers are struggling to keep afloat in a time when cuts continue and costs are piling up higher than ever before.

“It's tough to be optimistic, given the report,” AHCA spokesman Greg Crist told McKnight's.

MaineCare Underfunding

aine is a perfect example of this gross underfunding that has been rampant throughout the country. Although many of the missing reimbursements throughout the state were attributed to computer errors, a recent report found that long term care providers were underpaid by $29.4 million in 2011 and similar amounts in the previous years.

In October, the state’s DHHS still had 174 cost reports remaining from 2010 through 2012 that had not yet been audited, which made up around $8 million in unpaid MaineCare reimbursements.

Although some states have raised reimbursement rates, this widespread underfunding puts long term care facilities under a lot of pressure as they work to deal with the increasing costs of care.

Read more about the MaineCare underfunding faced by the state providers or find out more about planning for long term care.