While Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Peoria makes painful cuts to programs in response to the continuing state budget crisis in Springfield, Catholic health care institutions in the diocese also have been coping with the impact of late payments from the state.

The Illinois General Assembly is not set to return to work on a new state budget until Tuesday, July 14. Gov. Pat Quinn recently vetoed a budget bill that included a $9 billion deficit and sharp cuts to social service programs.

Angela Mehlbrech, administrator of St. Joseph Nursing Home in Lacon, said the state crisis adds to already difficult economic conditions.

More than half of St. Joseph’s residents, she explained, are on Medicaid, a federal program administered for Illinois residents through the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (formerly called the Department of Public Aid).

St. Joseph’s accepts many Medicaid-dependent residents because of the commitment of the Daughters of St. Francis — who own and operate the Lacon nursing home — to care for everyone they can, not only those who can pay their own way.

Late Medicaid reimbursement from the state has been a problem for some time.

“We’ve almost learned to live with late payments. It’s not comfortable, and it’s not something we want to do. It makes it hard for us to do our budget,” said Mehlbrech.

However, while late payments are a serious problem, she said, even worse would be a new state budget that cuts the reimbursement rates.

The impact of the budget crisis has led Catholic Charities to eliminate three programs that serve clients in the Bloomington-Normal area.

The programs being cut are Unified Delinquency Intervention Service, which works to keep youths on probation from going back to jail; Redeploy Illinois, a crime prevention program for youth in crisis; and the Bloomington-Normal Area Project, which Catholic Charities will continue to operate at Holy Trinity School in Bloomington until the end of July.

The loss of state funding will also cause reduction or loss of work hours for a number of Catholic Charities staff, but specific staff reductions have yet to be finalized, according to Celeste Matheson, Catholic Charities director of communications.