On February 2, 2003, CBS TV featured Kenneth Brown, Chief Executive Officer at GNYHA member facility Margaret Tietz Center for Nursing Care in Jamaica, Queens, and GNYHA's Center for Continuing Care Executive Director Scott Amrhein, in a national "Marketwatch" segment highlighting the fiscal vulnerability of our nation's nursing homes. The segment, part of a series of Marketwatch features focusing on the "high cost of old age," described the current financial situation facing nursing homes as a "crisis." In particular, the segment noted that nursing homes are "faced with rising costs, high staff turnover, and less money from the government," and as a consequence, "many nursing homes are shutting down at a time when demand is on the rise." Kenneth Brown underscored the challenges of managing a successful program in a time of rising costs, noting that, at Margaret Tietz, operating expenses have risen by 20-25% over the last five years. Scott Amrhein described the cumulative impact of State Medicaid reductions, noting that, on average, Medicaid payments to long term care facilities fall 10% short of the actual costs of caring for Medicaid beneficiaries. The segment highlighted the need for Federal solutions to the current crisis, specifically the restoration of needed Medicare funding and State relief on Medicaid. As stressed by William L. Minnix, President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, Washington "needs to help states, which have greatly reduced tax revenue budgets, to support Medicaid." GNYHA will continue to seek opportunities to highlight the fiscal plight of its continuing care members and is working vigorously at the Federal level to secure relief for its members under both Medicare and Medicaid.