The Moving Forward Nursing Home Quality Coalition released a statement on Tuesday, pressing the Trump administration for a clear vision regarding how it plans to improve long-term care quality over the next four years and “realize a more humane, cost-effective, and comprehensive LTC system.”
The statement, which was emailed to McKnight’s Wednesday, is a call for support and clarity on the heels of funding freezes, communications pauses and federal workforce reductions that have threatened providers’ goal of improving nursing homes quality.
The coalition of LTC providers, residents, advocates and policymakers was formed in the wake of a 2022 report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that industry leaders described as a wake-up call.
Many of the resources that operators have depended on to determine best care practices are currently in question. But it’s not out of the ordinary for the sector to be overlooked, Moving Forward’s Chair Alice Bonner said.
“It is not really surprising that we haven’t heard much about nursing home issues. Nursing home residents, staff members and care partners may not have the flexibility to advocate for their needs or visit with members of Congress or state legislators in terms of policy change,” she told McKnight’s on Wednesday. “We need to amplify the voice of residents!”
The coalition urged President Trump, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services to “issue a joint statement or fact sheet directing federal efforts to improve nursing home and long-term care quality” while Trump is in office.
Such a statement should touch on guidance outlined in the NASEM report, the coalition clarified. The report stated that the “federal government must play a major role in improving nursing home quality through moral leadership, stakeholder engagement, funding, and quality oversight.”
Continued disruptions to funding and communications would work against nursing homes-government collaborations ultimately established to uphold the well-being of American seniors, the group said.
What’s at stake
Some of NASEM’s recommendations that could take a hit due to the federal funding freeze, according to the coalition’s statement, include:
- Funding for training grants that advance the certified nursing assistant role;
- Funding for research on systemic barriers and opportunities to improve the recruitment, training and advancement of all nursing home workers;
- Development of an overall health equity strategy for nursing homes that includes defining, measuring, evaluating and intervening on disparities in nursing home care; and
- Ensuring that state survey agencies have adequate capacity, organizational structure and resources to fulfill their current nursing home oversight responsibilities for monitoring, investigation and enforcement.
In the meantime, Moving Forward is continuing with its own efforts to advocate for providers and residents across the country.
“[We’re] strengthening resident councils in Connecticut with the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program,” Bonner confirmed. “We’re also asking nursing home residents about their goals, preferences and priorities through a pilot program with six nursing homes in Kansas through Kansas State University.”
But these initiatives don’t change the reality that among the possible adjustments that could come over the next four years, Medicaid cuts would be the most devastating to the industry, Bonner said.
“While some nursing homes are able to provide services such as mental and behavioral health, including for individuals living with cognitive challenges, in other nursing homes, those services are inadequate to meet residents’ needs,” she said. “Reductions in Medicaid may influence nursing homes’ ability to provide those and other needed services such as life enrichment (activities), healthy food, and others to residents in need.”
Slashes to Medicaid and other payment sources also would mean lessened chances for nursing home staff members to receive adequate salaries and benefits, Bonner added.
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