Part of President Biden’s infrastructure plan includes improving the lives of direct caregivers. Biden proposed a $400 billion plan to support caregivers and expand access to home-based care. The plan will significantly increase Medicaid coverage of long-term care outside of institutional settings. The American Jobs Plan includes $400 billion for access to home- and community-based services
The Scientific American lists the most dangerous jobs in America every year. They recently released the list for 2020. One of the deadliest professions was caring for vulnerable adults in nursing homes. Death rates among nursing home staff ranked among the highest based on available data. Incredible. These caregivers deserve a living wage, benefits, and
Rhode Island Senate passed legislation requiring safe staffing levels at nursing homes. This will help overstretched staff, increase quality, and prevent delays in care. The bill requires nursing homes to have enough licensed nurses and nurses-assistants to provide 4.1 hours of direct care to each resident every day. Both the unions that have pushed for
The Christian Science Monitor had an interesting article asking how nursing homes could have handled the pandemic better. What lessons were learned? The question is whether nursing homes could have done better – and can do better going forward. Only with better and safer staffing. The bottom line is that nursing homes that have worse
Transfers to emergency rooms have negative long-term impacts on the health and well-being of nursing home residents. Almost 25% of all nursing home residents experience an emergency transfer to the hospital every year. That is a significant number. The risk of injury increases with each hospitalization. However, these transfers are preventable with adequate assessments and