Mass Nursing Homes Get $50 Million Lifeline, But More Closures Are Expected
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The Massachusetts Senior Care Association continues to advocate for passage of legislation that would provide immediate funding relief to ensure quality resident care and a living wage for our dedicated frontline staff. There have been allegations of substandard care at Massachusetts nursing homes. In March, Attorney General Maura Healey announced that she reached settlements with seven nursing homes over allegations of substandard care that endangered residents. Traditionally, nursing homes have made up for the loss of Medicaid money from patients on Medicare and those who pay with their own money or private insurance. But Medicare funding, which often covers people with short-term rehabilitative stays, has also been declining. Gregorio said the association looked at the population, operating margin, and Medicaid population at other nursing homes and identified 35 homes that are at risk of closing this year.
First, at least 120 days before the proposed closure date, the hospital must notify DPH of its intent to submit formal notification about the intended discontinuation of services. The hospital must also notify those impacted by the service closure, including the hospital’s patient and family council, hospital staff, labor organizations representing the hospital’s workforce, and local and state elected officials. "Every closure is like a family being broken apart, with the lives of residents, staff and their families impacted in the process," Parkinson said. "With hundreds of nursing home closures looming now and thousands more anticipated if government funding is cut, state and federal policymakers need to step up to support our social safety net."
Nursing home consumer information
Sokolove Law has helped thousands of people over the last 40 years get the legal attention they deserve. While filing a legal claim may seem overwhelming, our lawyers can help you every step of the way. Contact us by phone, use our online chat, or fill out our form today. Your facility’s Long Term Care Ombudsman can provide assistance to advocate on your behalf. Information on how to contact your facility ombudsman must be posted in your nursing home. Black News Hour presented by The Boston Globe Run by Black journalists at The Boston Globe, “Black News Hour,” a new radio program, delivers reliable news that connects with our community and expands on deeper issues impacting our city.
To request documentation, such as a facility’s Intent to Close letter, please contact A .mass.gov website belongs to an official government organization in Massachusetts.
Hospital essential service closures
Marc Zimmet, CEO of Zimmet Healthcare Services Group, said the Covid-19 pandemic has worsened conditions for nursing home across the country, and even states that have traditionally been considered "stable" are now seeing significant closures. To highlight the potential impact of these proposed payment cuts, AHCA/NCAL highlighted findings from a recent CliftonLarsenAllen study that modeled what could happen if Medicare was cut by 5% and the Medicaid public health emergency funding ends in 2022. For the report, AHCA/NCAL analyzed data from CMS' Survey & Certification's Quality, Certification and Oversight Reports to determine the number of nursing home closures between 2015 and 2022. The disturbing stories outlined by Healy underscore the life-and-death stakes involved in nursing home care. Staff need to be properly screened, trained, and compensated for their work.
According to CLA, these payment cuts would put 33% to 38% of nursing homes at financial risk, affecting between 32% and 40% of all nursing home residents—or as many as 417,000 people. Half of the communities in Massachusetts are at risk of being at maximum capacity if one facility closes, the association said, and 70 percent of nursing home residents rely on MassHealth to pay for their care. Last month, Health and Human Secretary Marylou Sudders told lawmakers at a budget hearing in Needham that "additional closures" were expected at nursing homes, though she did not specify a number.
Nursing Home Family Resource Line
Last year, 20 Massachusetts nursing homes closed, including Vibra Nursing and Rehab of Western Massachusetts in Springfield and New England Health Center in Sunderland, resulting in a loss of 1,900 beds. Mark Parkinson, president and CEO of AHCA/NCAL, called for policy changes to prioritize long term care and provide resources and support to reduce both financial and workforce challenges in nursing homes. "It is crucial that we continue this important progress and address the growing nursing facility workforce and funding crisis, which impacts all nursing facilities — not-for-profit, for profit and family owned," MSCA President Tara Gregorio said in a statement. "However, significantly more is needed in order to prevent many regions of the state from losing core facilities." When policies are not followed, these especially vulnerable patients fall through cracks.
The Massachusetts Senior Care Association reported Thursday that an analysis conducted by the firm CLA and presented at the group's annual meeting concluded that 95 nursing homes are in danger of closing across the state. If you are a resident who currently lives at any of these nursing homes, the facility is responsible for working with you to plan for your safe and orderly transfer to another facility capable of meeting your needs. Sudders, through a spokeswoman, declined a request for an interview. State officials acknowledged in a statement that “measures to increase accountability and improve quality care may contribute to closures in some circumstances.” But they suggested other factors are also in play.
First, at least 120 days before the proposed closure date the facility must notify DPH and those impacted by their decision to close and submit a draft closure plan. At the same time, five assisted living centers — where residents dwell independently but receive personal care services in a less clinical environment — have either gone out of business recently or are in the process of doing so. Four of them served a mostly low-income population and were supported primarily by public funds. As a result, Massachusetts ranks fourth worst in the nation for funding quality nursing home resident care resulting in more than half of the state’s nursing facilities operating at a loss. Because three-quarters of a nursing facility’s budget is used to fund employee wages and benefits, a facility’s ability to invest in staff is directly tied to state funding.
Long-term care facilities in partnership with their contracted pharmacies will be able to provide their residents with necessary doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. The situation is less acute for the assisted living sector, where about 90 percent of residents pay rent out of pocket, through long-term care insurance or from the proceeds of homes they’ve sold. The number of assisted living centers in Massachusetts has climbed from 227 to 268 since 2014, as more wealthier residents have gravitated away from nursing homes. LOWELL, MASS. - MassHealth has sent termination notices to three nursing homes because of poor performance during the coronavirus pandemic, possibly leading to their closure, officials said today.
“These are vulnerable people who had no recourse,” said the group’s senior attorney Betsey Crimmins. Landmark executives didn’t respond to the Globe’s e-mails and phone calls. Its remaining residents got a reprieve after officials from the Boston Center for Independent Living and the Northeast Justice Center urged state elder affairs officials to press Landmark’s management to hold off on evictions. Nursing homes are also being squeezed by longstanding labor shortages that intensified during the pandemic as some immigrant care workers returned to their native countries. And the phasing out of pandemic-era Paycheck Protection Program loans, which propped up many struggling homes temporarily, has made it harder to operate profitably. One nursing home, Quincy Health & Rehabilitation Center, which plans to close Dec. 7, blamed a new post-pandemic limit of two beds per room.
And even those who can pay for home-based long-term care are often willing or unable to make necessary accommodations to do so. The Consumer Survey indicates nearly 30% of consumers would be unwilling to make changes to accommodate home care such as moving closer to family or quitting paid employment to be a caregiver, even if they would prefer to receive care at home. The MSCA, which represents more than 400 facilities, pointed to what the group described as deficiencies in the state's model. Because MassHealth uses cost estimates from 2007 for reimbursements, the group said, homes are consistently underfunded. Each year, the gap between Medicaid funding and MSCA projections of the cost of quality care is about $360 million, or more than $1 million per home, according to the association. MassHealth allocated an additional $25 million last fall to stabilize nursing homes, but the MSCA called for additional investment ahead of a Joint Committee on Elder Affairs hearing scheduled for Monday.
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