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Nursing home industry leaders clash with advocates for workers, patient care

Tribune-Review - 9/15/2021

Sep. 16—Nursing home leaders and advocates for patients and care workers clashed Wednesday, with one side asking state officials to put the brakes on plans to increase staffing levels at Pennsylvania's 700 skilled care nursing homes, with the other saying reforms can't come soon enough.

Industry representatives told lawmakers at a state Senate hearing that increasing minimum nursing care levels from 2.7 to 4.1 hours per day per patient would exacerbate critical staffing shortages. They said it also would increase financial problems at institutions already struggling to remain afloat on Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements that increasingly fall short of covering costs. They suggested the issue needs further review.

Failing to act, however, could make matters even worse down the road, according to patient and care worker advocates.

Matthew Yarnell, president of SEIU Healthcare PA, and a former direct care worker, said it's untenable to ask direct care workers like nursing assistants, many of whom lack retirement benefits and adequate health care, to care for 20 to 30 patients on a daylight shift.

"Providing quality care to that many residents is — quite frankly — impossible," Yarnell said. "Whether it's unanswered call bells, developing bed sores from lack of movement, or getting cold food, nursing staff don't have time to do the basics, let alone offer residents personal time and attention they need and deserve."

He said raising staffing levels is just part of the answer to ensuring patient safety and creating a stable workforce in the industry.

He said higher pay, access to training and career advancement as well as healthcare benefits all are needed to attract and retain staff.

State Sen. Marie Collett, minority chair of the Senate Aging and Youth Committee joined Yarnell after the hearing, calling for sweeping reforms now in Pennsylvania nursing homes where some 13,000 residents have died of covid-19.

Collett, an attorney-turned-nurse educator, labeled calls to slow down the reform process disgraceful and disingenuous.

Diane Menio, executive director of CARIE, the Center for Advocacy for the Rights & Interests of the Elderly, said reforms must make it clear how much of the money that flows to nursing homes is actually going to patient care.

Collett said state lawmakers must to ensure that Medicare and Medicaid funds are going toward patient care rather than into bonuses for administrators who cut corners to reduce costs.

"We've got to structure the law so they cannot funnel those dollars to something other than bedside care," Collett said. "New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts have all moved to models that ensure dollars go to care at the bedside.

"The time is now," Collett said. "There is no clearer indication (of the need) than what we and our loved ones experienced during covid."

Deb Erdley is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Deb at 724-850-1209, derdley@triblive.com or via Twitter .

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