Nursing homes, assisted living centers expect COVID-caused closings
Unless there’s a turnaround from the high costs and low revenues of the COVID healthcare economy, more than 70% of nursing homes and 64% of assisted living communities will not be here a year from now.
Some 40% of nursing homes say they won’t even make it through the first quarter of 2021.
So report the American Health Care Association (AHCA) and the National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL) after surveying 463 nursing home providers and 193 assisted living providers from Aug. 8 to 10.
Other economically indicative findings turned up by the surveys:
- Half of assisted living communities and 55% of nursing homes are operating at a loss—and those figures include facilities that have had no COVID cases of their own.
- The top three COVID-related costs for nursing homes are PPE supplies (90%), staff hero pay (78%) and additional staff (46%).
- The top three COVID hits for assisted living communities are PPE (95%), staff hero pay (55%) and cleaning supplies (50%).
Nursing homes may be on somewhat sturdier ground, as they’ve received pandemic relief funding from federal (82%) and state (52%) agencies, which may mean they’re in line to receive more with any new legislation.
By contrast, assisted living centers say they’ve received no direct federal dollars and not much help from their respective states.
AHCA/NCAL has posted fact sheets summarizing the full survey findings. See the self-reported numbers from nursing homes here and assisted living communities here.
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.