James September-October 2024 web - Flipbook - Page 41
population ratios in the country.
This problem is only expected to
worsen in our state and nationally,
with studies estimating that the
United States could have a gap of
between 200,000 to 450,000 nurses
available for direct patient care by
2025. All the while the need for
skilled nursing services will rise as
the massive baby boom generation
ages into its 80s and beyond.
New government mandates
will exacerbate this crisis. A
federal agency this year issued
new minimum staffing rules that
are simply unachievable for most
skilled nursing homes. These
changes require that homes hire
Registered Nurses who don’t exist
with money they don’t have in an
industry that already operates on
2 percent profit margins.
An American Health Care Association study found that Georgia
nursing homes would need to hire
an estimated 3,500 additional fulltime employees (2,516 nurse aides
and 977 registered nurses) at
a cost of approximately
$218.5 million per year.
For Presbyterian
Homes of Georgia
alone, the mandate would require
roughly 25 new full
time equivalent positions with
at least $1.3 million in additional
salary costs before benefits.
These benchmarks are sheer
fantasy. Only 1 percent of Georgia’s
nursing homes currently meet all
the criteria of the new mandate.
Many of our residents depend
on federal health insurance programs for seniors, but the mandate
doesn’t come with new federal
funds to cover the cost of inflation.
That’s a shocking burden to impose
THE PRESBYTERIAN HOMES OF GEORGIA AUSTELL CAMPUS
when the regulators’ own studies
show the staffing mandate won’t
improve quality of care.
As federal bureaucrats pat
themselves on the back, these
regulations will hurt seniors in the
real world. Many homes that can’t
find enough staff to meet the standards will be forced to reduce the
number of residents they can admit. Statewide, this could reduce
capacity by 10,000 beds, displacing vulnerable seniors who need
care that only skilled nursing facilities can provide. Families unable
to forego a salary to provide home
care will be forced to seek care for
their loved ones further from their
hometowns, and in rural areas, the
next closest nursing home could
be an hour or more away.
In our business, we’ve taken
every proactive measure we can
to prepare for these changes. This
includes reaching out immediately
to universities and technical
colleges that train nurses. We’re
told that, with retirements and
career turnover, it’s impossible
for the state to produce enough
nurses to fulfill these arbitrary
standards.
This mandate will hurt those
it’s ostensibly supposed to help.
There’s time to reverse course
before it takes effect.
S E PT E M B E R/O C TO BER 2024
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