AHCA/NCAL's participation in the Senate Finance Committee hearing, 'A National Tragedy: COVID-19 in the Nation’s Nursing Homes,' drew focus to the Care for Our Seniors Act, introduced in a press release and member webinar this past Monday.
In his testimonial, Chief Medical Officer David Gifford, MD, explained how reimbursement gaps between residents' cost of care and what providers are paid directly impact a nursing home's workforce. Workforce is just one of the four core areas for reform in the act.
Additional points made by Dr. Gifford to lawmakers included these:
Most importantly, he stressed that because LTC providers rely almost entirely on government reimbursement, their support is needed to make it happen.
In short, AHCA/NCAL and LeadingAge are joining forces to help long-term care (LTC) providers reform in four major categories:
As evidenced by AHCA/NCAL's participation in the hearing, COVID-19 shone a light on long-standing challenges for LTC to include:
Now that the industry has our government's attention, the hope is that it will receive the funding needed to support these critical reform initiatives.
Upon securing government funding, AHCA/NCAL and LeadingAge hope to reform the LTC industry as explained below.
Equip each nursing home facility with:
Implement a multi-phase approach to supply, attract and retain facility workforces, including:
AHCA/NCAL and LeadingAge can continue to use opportunities like last week's Senate Finance Committee hearing to advocate. So, get ready for reform. Think about how changes in surveys and the addition of customer satisfaction to star ratings might change your world. If you don't have ready access to clinical, staffing and census data for monitoring performance, we can help.
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