Foreclosure notice

COVID-related financial challenges have contributed to additional nursing home closures across the country, putting the care of residents in jeopardy. 

Earlier this month, for example, officials at the Michigan Masonic Home, which owns the 45-bed Warwick Living Center in Alma, MI, announced that the skilled nursing facility would “discontinue operations” on March 12. The pandemic has forced the facility’s census to fall below 70% and has forced it to merge operations with the nearby Masonic Pathways life plan community, according to CEO Mike Logan.

Last month, two Connecticut nursing homes announced they were shutting their doors due to financial reasons, forcing state officials to find alternative care for 25 residents. In addition, a Massachusetts SNF also closed at the end of 2020. State Senator Eric Lesser (D-Longmeadow), who represents the area, said he feared that the closure was the “tip of the iceberg” of a potential crisis for long-term care facilities.

Similar stories of nursing home facility and even assisted living community closures have been reported in California, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, New York and Rhode Island, among others. 

The high cost of personal protective equipment, testing and staff member support have pushed two-thirds of nursing homes and more than half of assisted living communities into the red, according to the findings of two surveys conducted last month by the American Health Care Association / National Center for Assisted Living.

This article appeared in the McKnight’s Business Daily, a joint effort of McKnight’s Senior Living and McKnight’s Long-Term Care News.