Biden’s Build Back Better Act is currently undergoing an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office before heading to the Senate for passage. The law includes some great improvements to health care especially nursing homes. Staffing in Nursing Homes Provisions that increase staffing will increase quality of care in the industry. Nursing homes will need a
Investment The bipartisan law commits $550 billion in spending to repair and rebuild America’s infrastructure. America certainly needs to repair, upgrade, and modernize infrastructure. The investment will create good American jobs across the country. The law provides: $75 billion to build charging stations for electric vehicles, $73 billion to upgrade the country’s electrical grid, $66
Vaccination is the best safeguard against the highly transmissible Delta variant. 99% of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 are unvaccinated. Residents in nursing homes account for a significant number of COVID-19 infections and deaths. There have been 704,233 COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. Over 50,000 deaths in nursing homes. Becker’s Hospital Review listed the states with
Employment The Biden Administration will provide $500 million to the nursing home industry. The initiative will send strike teams to nursing homes to help with infection control and prevention efforts, and address staffing shortages. The strike team program will be a partnership between providers and inspectors that reduces the spread of infections at facilities. CMS
Technology An article in Quartz made an interesting point. Why isn’t Amazon Echo and other communication devices standard in long-term care? during the pandemic, social isolation and loneliness increased dramatically. Restrictions kept millions locked indoors for months without visitors. Technology can help. But it needs to be accessible for residents with functional or cognitive limitations.
Virginia nursing home residents are in danger. At least, 20% of Virginia’s nursing homes fail to meet expected staffing levels under federal standards. The standard is to provide sufficient and qualified staff to meet the needs of the residents. Poor quality care is inevitable without safe staffing. Associate Health Policy Analyst Kyu Kang warns: “Facilities