Great News

Occupancy

McKnight’s reported on occupancy and census in the nursing home industry. Demand is back to normal for skilled nursing. The National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care reports occupancy continues to recover from pandemic lows. Census is now at pre-COVID levels.

Expanded Access

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra announced South Carolina joined six other states in extending health care coverage to women with low-to-modest incomes for a full year after childbirth. The expansion of Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program is fantastic. Maternal mortality is particularly serious for Black women, whose pregnancy-related death rate is three times that of white women.

States are required to provide at least 60 days of coverage after childbirth. Medical experts pregnancy-related conditions can cause death up to a year after giving birth. Fortunately, most pregnancy-related deaths are preventable. Nearly 12% of maternal deaths occur 43 to 365 days after delivery.

Job Growth

Skilled Nursing News reported that the health care industry added over 35,000 in April. It is a great start for the industry. However, survey data shows that 96% of nursing home workers in the state don’t have the staffing necessary to provide the necessary quality of care.

The American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) called the data from the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report “a sight for sore eyes.”

Regulatory Oversight

Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) is chairman of the Special Committee on Aging. He wrote a letter to CMS demanding more oversight to prevent abuse, neglect, and waste and fraud. Casey requests CMS to address reported lags in surveys of nursing homes in the Special Focus Facility program after finding that 1 in 5 are overdue for inspections.

There are 87 nursing homes currently in the SFF program — with more than 400 on the candidate list. The lack of oversight concerns him about the timeliness, consistency and effectiveness of SFF program and the wellbeing of residents.