77% of facilities worry they'll have to shut down from lack of workers.
Due to the ongoing workforce shortage, nursing home providers are having to turn away potential residents, downsize their facility, or shut down completely.
A new survey by the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living found this is attributed to the lack of interested and qualified caregivers. The survey also emphasized that proposed solutions such as federal staffing mandates would be impossible to meet considering these conditions.
To provide quality care to residents, the survey found that 98% of providers have had to ask staff to work overtime or extra shifts, 75% have had to hire costly agency staff, and 55% have had to limit the number of residents they admit.
"Every sector is dealing with a labor shortage right now, but for long-term care, this crisis is historic, persistent, and unsustainable," said Mark Parkinson, president and CEO of AHCA/NCAL in a statement.
Despite efforts such as increasing wages and offering bonuses, Parkinson said, the sector continues to struggle to find workers—and that it can't solve this problem by itself.
As a result of the workforce shortage, many older adults’ access to care has been indirectly limited, with more than one-fourth of nursing homes having to close a unit, wing, floor, or shut down their entire facility, with 21% of facilities downsizing the number of beds they can offer.
Nearly three-fourths—72%—of facilities are worried they'll have to shut down their facility because of hiring challenges.
Some providers have begun taking initiative to recruit students before they graduate. There are even some schools, like the Linda University's School of Allied Health Professions, that have begun working to change student's perception of working with the elderly.
In a previous HealthLeaders story, Chad Cole, MPA, and an instructor in geriatrics for the school's physician assistant program, emphasized the importance of pushing eldercare to the forefront for students.
"What we're hoping to do is get them a little more clinical experience in their clinical year training, working with me in the geriatric clinic, and maybe show them the kind of challenges we face, the resources out there, and hopefully spark a greater interest to go into geriatric medicine."
In addition to lack of interest or qualifications from potential candidates, another obstacle providers face when trying to recruit talent is the financial situation of the candidate. With the reimbursement structure barely covering the cost of care, nursing homes can’t afford to offer wages to compete with larger providers such as hospitals.
"We need Congress to invest in long-term care and make it possible to build a robust workforce," Parkinson said, adding that the Biden administration's proposed staffing mandate won't help unless there are other resources and recruitment programs implemented alongside it.
"We urge policymakers to instead focus on comprehensive solutions, such as the ones AHCA laid out in our Care for Our Seniors Act, that will support our caregivers and protect access to care for our nation's seniors."
“Every sector is dealing with a labor shortage right now, but for long- term care, this crisis is historic, persistent, and unsustainable.”
Mark Parkinson, president, CEO, AHCA/NCAL
Jasmyne Ray is the revenue cycle editor at HealthLeaders.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
55% of nursing home providers have had to limit the number of residents they admit.
75% of facilities have had to use expensive agencies to find nurses to supplement their staff.
The Biden administration has proposed a staffing mandate, but facilities are still struggling to hire and retain staff.