U.S. Senators John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), and colleagues today sent a letter to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure expressing concerns about CMS’ intent to issue additional staffing mandates for nursing homes. In the letter, the senators discourage CMS from taking a “one-size-fits-all” approach and instead address the significant workforce shortages affecting rural America.
A study led by a recent University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health graduate, revealed that a rise in home health care spending could become an issue for Medicare nationally and in Arkansas. Robert Schuldt, Ph.D., a spring 2022 graduate of the college’s Health Systems and Services Research program, led the study on Geographic Variation in Medicare Home Health Expenditures. Among Schuldt’s discoveries was how the growth in spending on the popular home health care program could potentially lead to changes in the service in Arkansas. Numerous outlets published the study, including the American Journal of Managed Care.
When Virginia’s General Assembly is in town, AARP Virginia will push lawmakers to protect at-risk nursing home residents and their families by taking on long-overdue quality and staffing problems in facilities. “Virginia’s long-standing failure to address staffing shortages in nursing homes must come to an end,” said Jared Calfee, Associate State Director for Advocacy at AARP Virginia. “Too many of Virginia’s 30,000 nursing home residents have suffered due to inaction, and it’s time for that to stop.” AARP Virginia supports House Bill 1564 sponsored by Delegate Vivian Watts. Calfee said Watts and advocates have been bringing the problems in nursing facilities to lawmakers’ attention for more than 20 years, but legislation has failed year after year. “Ignoring the problem won’t make it go away,” Calfee said. “It’s up to the General Assembly to take the lead in ensuring that our nursing home residents are provided with safe, quality care.”
Minnesota lawmakers have a “moral imperative” to invest in the state’s long-term care system and workers, said Dr. Ann Vogel on Monday on her way to the Capitol. The New Ulm physician organized a busload of providers from southwest Minnesota to head up to St. Paul to rally support for senior care. The trip came shortly into the 2023 legislative session, during which lawmakers will consider how to use a $17.6 billion surplus. About $1 billion to $2 billion should go toward long-term care, Vogel said. “The best outcome is that they say we’re going to prioritize this and we’ll take $1 billion or $2 billion and start paying certified nursing assistants and nurses taking care of these people a living wage,” she said.
As of December 15 data, 59.2% of New Hampshire nursing homes were experiencing a nursing staff shortage, the nation’ second-worst crisis. Compare that to Massachusetts, doing 5th best among states with just 9.3% of facilities reporting such a shortage. Massachusetts has invested very significant resources into its long-term care workforce since the COVID-19 pandemic began, which has lured even more Granite Staters to cross the border for work.
A longtime Valley business that provided health care and assistance for patients in their home has closed, according to multiple sources. mvi HomeCare of Youngstown and Salem closure caught employees and the patients - who received treatment from the senior home care business - scrambling without advance notice of the disruption of services. Rebecca Hughes, a former mvi Clinical Director/Manager, confirmed the closing and told 21 News that all patients that received care from mvi have been placed with other home care agencies in the Valley. Hughes said that 55 employees lost their jobs in the closing and approximately 100 patients were left to find replacement home healthcare in late December.