Nursing Homes Cut Back as Budget Trauma Hits Bottom Line
October 13th, 2009 | The Blog
A Medicare rate adjustment, combined with cuts in Federal and state spending, has started to have a deep impact on nursing homes. Medicare cuts alone are expected to average a $1.6 billion reduction in funding per year. 24 states have already cut funding. Further cuts are currently before Congress. There are currently 16,000 nursing homes operating in the US, with an estimated 1.85 million people in care.
The cuts are expected to force closures as well as layoffs, as the juggling act of compensating for reduced funding begins in earnest. Industry sources state that inadequate funding through Medicaid has already forced some closures.
For specialist nurses in this area, the question is now how to dodge the cuts and stay in viable work. The common wisdom at this stage is that the upmarket nursing homes are in better condition to deal with the cuts. These homes, however, are a relatively small part of the sector. It’s unlikely the resized industry can absorb the staff losses directly.
An alternative job strategy would be to move into other forms of care like retirement homes and related areas. Nursing home skill sets apply to other areas of care, and the basic nursing roles are eminently portable, particularly in a nurse-starved employment market.
However, the reductions in the nursing home industry are a symptom of a major issue for nurses in the sector. The cuts show a structural weakness in the financial management system. This could result in many “nomadic” nursing jobs; traveling nurse work in a tight budgetary regime where spasmodic employment and arbitrary, time-based terms of employment replace regular full-time jobs.
That may mean a general move away from the sector into more stable employment, which inevitably would hit nurses remaining in the nursing home industry with heavier workloads and less qualified help. And we can assume salary rises aren’t on the agenda. This could cause a stampede of qualified nurses to better jobs.
“Nursing by spreadsheet” isn’t likely to be a viable option. The industry’s bottom line approach is understandable, but hardly a sustainable working proposition. The industry is about to receive the full blast of demand from the retiring baby boomers. This could be the wrong knee jerk at the wrong time. “Rent A Nurse” won’t appeal to the profession as a meaningful job option, either. Nor is it likely to be an effective solution to the obvious holes in the bucket.
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Who the heck is Paul Wallis? This article reeks of Right Wing propaganda, to try to scare more nurses out of our wits about universal health care. I’ve been working in nursing homes, and I can find no evidence of cut backs, except when the census goes down, and that happens because they are now all corporate owned, instead of not for profit, like most of them used to be. Now, like hospitals, they are feeding the vulture-like corporate heads and share holders, which rake huge profits off the top, instead of putting the money back into patient care.
I’m glad I now work for a non-profit organization, which is more interested in patient care, than the bottom line.
In answer to your question, I’m a professional writer, and I’ve been covering the US health industry and its issues for years on other sites. I’m about as right wing as Obama.
The information regarding cuts doesn’t come from my views, it comes from Associated Press, if you check out the link. I don’t see any obvious association with universal health care. Cuts in health and health jobs are bottom line issues.
I’m referring to the fact that the cuts and the alternative working arrangements aren’t viable, won’t cover demand for services, and won’t appeal to nurses, or do anything to improve the situation for those affected in the nursing home industry.
I cannot believe that anybody in Geriatric or nuring home care has not seen cutbacks related to Medicare. As a RN in Colorado it is commonly understood that EVERYTHING is being cut, with a constant emphasis on possible staff cuts.
Not everything has to do with views on Universal Health Care. The reality is that the cuts hurt the most vulnerable. (Right Wing, Left Wing, Center Field - doesn’t matter)
Geriatric nursing has always been my first love in my 20 years as a LVN.However, It is no longer taking care of the elderly in thier last stages of life! It has become all about paperwork and not patient care.I am deeply concerned about what will happen to the elderly in the future.And I am very concerned over losing my license evertime I work in these facilitys!