James Nov-Dec 2023 web - Flipbook - Page 47
don’t exist). Fewer than 1 percent of
facilities in our state currently meet
all the standards in the new requirements— a statistic that speaks
volumes about how unrealistic this
mandate is.
The nursing workforce shortage
affects every region in the state,
not just rural areas. At hospitals,
schools, doctors’ offices and nursing
homes, Georgia needs tens of thousands more nurses. But this federal
overreach will affect rural counties
disproportionately. Dedicated staff
work in nursing homes because
they can develop a meaningful
relationship with residents and
patients and learn their routines and
preferences. The pandemic led to
high agency staff utilization which
disrupted continuity in care. These
mandates will lead to even higher
agency utilization and may contribute to suboptimal quality outcomes
and poor satisfaction.
“This will hit rural areas first
because it’s high Medicaid and low
census,” Windham says. “There’s not
as much Medicare and private pay,
which reimburses at a higher rate.”
Homes that can’t afford or fulfill
the new rules will face tough choices, perhaps reducing the number of
beds offered or closing completely.
Demand for nursing home services
is high and rising in all parts of the
state— Windham says two of their
facilities stay full and have a waiting
list to get in— but when homes close
in rural areas, seniors are forced to
leave their communities and live
further from their families.
“On the rural side, if your wife
or husband needs a skilled nursing facility long term, you want to
see them,” Windham says. “A lot
of elderly individuals can’t drive 30
minutes to see their loved ones.”
Closures hit local economies hard
too. The homes owned by Windham’s family are the biggest employers in both Marshallville and Ideal.
The federal government would
serve America’s seniors much better
by implementing policies to drastically expand the healthcare workforce
pipeline. Training more nurses is a
serious approach; pretending that
there are already thousands out in the
job market looking for positions isn’t.
Nursing homes are still recovering from the significant impact of the
pandemic. Many skilled workers left
the profession during those trying
times and never came back. These
federal actions threaten to further destabilize homes at a time when the
number of Georgia seniors needing
these services is growing.
Several members of Georgia’s
congressional delegation have
served their districts well by working to turn back these harmful policies, but we desperately need Sens.
Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock
to join the fight. We know Georgia
is incredibly important to President Biden, giving our senators the
chance to speak up loudly on behalf
of Georgia’s seniors who need access to care.
Spencer Windham
WindCorp Management COO
N OV EM B E R /D EC E M BER 2023
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