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Coping with COVID: Survey concludes two-thirds of nursing homes could go under within a year

In a recent survey conducted by American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living revealed 66 percent of respondents believe they may have to close their doors within the next year due to current operating pace and increased COVID-19 costs.

Respondents of a national nursing home survey conducted by the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living show over 60 percent say they won’t be around next year if they have to continue to face higher costs and operating losses due to COVID-19.

Results were released this week, the survey looking at financial and staffing challenges facing nursing homes.

“Our nursing home providers are facing the worst financial crisis in the history of the industry due to increased costs related to COVID (testing, personal protective equipment, staffing) and chronic Medicaid underfunding,” Mark Parkinson, president and CEO of the association, said.

The survey of 953 nursing homes found that 66 percent won’t make it another year at the current operating pace. Right now, 65 percent are operating at a loss or negative margin and 25 percent are operating at a margin of zero to 3 percent.

Nine out of 10 of the nursing homes surveyed reported having to hire on additional staff or pay overtime. Another 58 percent said that additional staff costs were their top cost incurred due to COVID-19 and another 70 percent had to hire additional staff.

The survey found that 86 percent of nursing homes had to provide bonuses to staff members and 68 percent hired additional staff.

Nearly all nursing homes (94 percent) asked their staff to work overtime or double shifts.

At the start of the pandemic, the entire healthcare sector shed 1.5 million jobs, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. But while hiring in other sectors like hospitals and physician offices has rebounded, long-term care facilities like nursing homes have not recovered.

The long-term care industry has lost 246,000 jobs from March to November, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Other financial challenges associated with COVID-19 include testing, where 12 percent of nursing homes said was their top COVID-19 cost, and personal protective equipment with 26 percent as their top cost.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) also gave out $333 million in incentive payments to nursing homes that met certain quality standards.

Congress included a $175 billion provider relief fund when it passed the CARES Act back in March, but so far talks for another relief package remain stalled on Capitol Hill.