The Finish Line

More than two years ago, we recommended that Ohio's nursing facility associations sue the State in the Supreme Court of Ohio. Today, the first payments from that case are reaching providers.

It was not easy advice to take. Efforts to resolve the reimbursement issue had failed, the dollars at stake were substantial, and ODM read the statute differently than we did. Trade associations and health care providers don't sue the State lightly. There were real questions about strategy, about what it would mean to be adverse to ODM, and, more than once, about whether it was worth continuing.

We believed the statute said what we thought it said and that mandamus was the right remedy. The associations took that advice, and we served as lead counsel.

On September 2, 2025, the Court unanimously granted the writ and ordered ODM to recalculate the payments. We thought that day was the finish line. It was closer to the halfway point.

Turning a court order into money in providers' accounts took another year of work, led by Scott Wiley and OHCA, alongside the other associations, providers, communications professionals, and policymakers. We've been fortunate to stay closely involved with that team the whole way.

The lesson we keep coming back to goes well beyond Medicaid. The skilled nursing industry faces no shortage of hard problems, and cautious approaches tend to produce small results. This case is a reminder of what's possible when we're willing to take the harder path.