A new study in JAMA Health Forum cuts through one of the nursing home industry’s most common excuses. Researchers examined an Illinois Medicaid reform that paid facilities more if they actually increased staffing, and then measured what happened to residents. When staffing went up, resident outcomes improved. Fewer hospitalizations, better day-to-day functioning, and measurable changes in health
The Milwaukee Independent reported the link between nursing home staffing shortages and immigration crackdowns; this highlights how fragile the long-term care workforce has become. Immigrant caregivers have long played a vital role in nursing homes, particularly in direct care positions that keep residents fed, clean, supervised, and safe. When those workers disappear, the strain on
A quiet federal rollback is about to make an already dangerous situation even worse. Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services eliminated the safety requirement that nursing homes maintain a registered nurse on site 24 hours a day, reducing it to just eight hours. For states like South Carolina — this
South Carolina Nurses Association is up in arms over the recent decision by Trump’s Department of Education to strip graduate-level nursing degrees of their “professional degree” classification. This is more than a bureaucratic change. It is a shortsighted policy shift that threatens the already fragile nursing workforce, particularly in long-term care, where residents’ lives depend
The tragic death of 93-year-old Roger Andrews at Avenue at Aurora Care & Rehabilitation Center in Ohio is another heartbreaking example of how quickly a short-term rehabilitation stay can turn fatal when nursing homes fail to follow their own safety assessments. Roger was not a frail or declining elder; he was vibrant, active, and living
A recent article on nursing home staffing oversight highlights a truth that every family—and every attorney fighting for accountability—needs to understand: the government only sees a fraction of what actually happens inside a nursing home. Regulators rely heavily on Payroll-Based Journal (PBJ) data, which nursing homes submit to CMS to show how many RNs, LPNs,
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