Late Tuesday afternoon, the language for HB 96, the biennial budget for SFY 2026-2027 was posted to the Ohio General Assembly’s website. LeadingAge Ohio shared an alert yesterday morning summarizing the portions of the bill that have the greatest impact on aging services, though most aging services remained largely flat-funded and not substantively modified.
One exception is new language for both hospitals and nursing homes that prohibits changes of operator from moving forward when the new owner is a real estate investment trust (REIT), and requires existing REIT-owned buildings to self-disclose to the Department of Health within 90 days of passage of the bill. The provision follows significant press critiquing the impact of REIT ownership on quality of patient care. While this provision is unlikely to impact any LeadingAge Ohio members, we are working to ascertain how many nursing homes in the state will be affected.
This year, Speaker of the House Matt Huffman has decided to hear testimony on the budget in the House’s standing committees rather than in subcommittees of the Finance Committee, a process that he used previously in the Ohio Senate. Testimony began last week with Director Corcoran of the Department of Medicaid, and next week Director McElroy of the Department of Aging in the Families & Human Services Committee on February 18. LeadingAge Ohio plans to testify in response to the Aging budget on February 19, and at a later date in the House Medicaid Committee.
Members are strongly encouraged to attend LeadingAge Ohio’s Advocacy Day at the Statehouse on April 1 - the only grassroots event for aging service providers this budget season. Additional questions may be directed to Eli Faes, Director of Public Policy, at efaes@leadingageohio.org.