Imagine, for a moment, a functioning, well-developed system for improving the lives of frail older adults. Imagine that, instead of our current chaotic, dangerous, and needlessly expensive patchwork of care for seniors, the US had a well-coordinated care model that leverages and supports paid aides, family caregivers, safe and appropriate housing, and new technology. And imagine a system that makes [...]
One would have thought that after more than 750,000 Covid-19 related deaths among older adults in the US and more than 200,000 deaths among residents and staffs of long-term care facilities that Congress would act to improve the nation’s long-term care system. One would have been wrong. Except for including about $12 billion in federal funds to temporarily expand Medicaid’s [...]
It has become popular among many Democrats to call for investigations of nursing home ownership by private equity firms. But industry experts tell me that, increasingly, big investors in senior services are abandoning nursing facilities in favor of the far more lucrative home health business and, in some cases, private-pay senior housing. And the shift isn’t just happening with private [...]
A blue-ribbon panel of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine has issued a scathing report on the state of nursing homes in the US. Operators, owners, regulators, and payors all are failing patients and residents, the report said. “The way in which the United States finances, delivers, and regulates care in nursing home settings is ineffective, inefficient, fragmented, [...]
The Biden Administration has proposed a wide range of changes in the regulation of nursing homes. They include efforts to require minimum staffing levels; limit shared rooms; enhance inspections, penalties, and transparency; and crack down on owners with a history of poor quality. The plan also would expand a technical assistance program to help operators improve their quality of care. [...]
By now, you’ve probably heard about the desperate shortage of nurses and aides in nursing homes and long-term care facilities. This workforce crisis not only hurts their residents, it also is creating severe backups in hospitals, putting both patients and the facilities themselves at risk and increasing health care costs. As those staffing shortages course through the entire health care [...]
With nursing homes and other long-term care facilities desperately short of nurses and aides, it is more important than ever for consumers to know about staffing levels, quality, and turnover. But it has been difficult to get some key information. Now, the government has taken a modest step to help. In January, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) [...]
The covid-19 pandemic drove a collapse in both patient volume and revenue for post-acute care in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). And while patient numbers have increased modestly since the worst of the pandemic, they remain far below 2019 and probably are financially unsustainable for the SNFs. At the same time, bipartisan federal legislation in the House and Senate would create [...]
The shortage of staff in long-term facilities and home care agencies has gone from a problem to a crisis. Three rural nursing homes in Maine close because they cannot hire enough staff to maintain care for patients and residents. A nursing home in Oklahoma shuts its doors due to a staff shortages. Same in Kansas. A new industry survey reports [...]
Not since the 1960s have so many critical policy issues that affect older adults come together in Congress at one time. Over the next few months, lawmakers will decide whether to both increase and fundamentally refocus federal support for older adults and younger people with disabilities. Those reforms would assist those who need long-term services and supports and many healthy [...]