The White House plans to boost nursing home staffing and oversight is great news for those of us who represents the victims of abuse and neglect in the nursing home industry. The plan will confirm a minimum staffing level–hopefully consistent with studies that show a need of 4.1. hours per patient day. Safe staffing improves safety by ensuring residents receive sufficient care and attention. The administration also cited a study that found increased staffing levels were linked with fewer covid cases and deaths.
The plan will also reduce the use of shared rooms which will help reduce infection from spreading.
Most importantly, officials will hold private equity accountable for abuse and neglect. Data and studies show private ownership causes worse outcomes and higher costs. Numerous studies prove that investment groups’ ownership of nursing homes is linked to lower quality of care and higher costs.
“As Wall Street firms take over more nursing homes, the quality in those homes has gone down and costs have gone up. That ends on my watch,” Biden said emphatically.
Federal officials will create a database to track and identify safety records of owners and operators. Operations must be transparent.
