Although President Biden took direct aim at overhauling federal nursing home regulations during his State of the Union address, aging services leaders are using the mention of long-term care as an opportunity to make another push for additional COVID-19 relief for the entire continuum.
LeadingAge President and CEO Katie Smith Sloan said she was “gratified” to see long-term care included in the speech. But she said one of the “starkest lessons” of the pandemic is that the country is “not ready to serve its rapidly aging population.”
“If the past two years have shown us anything, it is that our country’s aging services system is in desperate need of an overhaul,” Sloan said. “Mission-driven providers like LeadingAge members are committed to providing quality care and community services for older adults, but the threshold question is when the government will finally adequately fund these critical supports for millions of older Americans and their families.”
Provider Relief Fund fight
Although Biden declared in his State of the Union talk a “new moment in the fight against COVID-19” in presenting a National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan, Argentum countered that the virus still poses a significant threat to older adults.
“We are disappointed that the president did not mention any plans for new COVID-19 relief for assisted living caregivers,” Argentum President and CEO James Balda said. “The last two-plus years have been challenging for all long-term care providers, but we in the assisted living sector, unlike other care settings, have not received much in the way of federal COVID relief dollars, which has led to massive financial losses.”
Argentum has called for passage of the Safeguarding Elderly Needs for Infrastructure and Occupational Resources (SENIOR) Act, which would include a $10 billion sustainability fund similar to the Provider Relief Fund and would establish $1.25 billion in federal grants for workforce development.
The senior living provider organization also supports the Employee Retention Tax Credit Reinstatement Act, which would restore a refundable credit to help small businesses and nonprofits that experienced revenue drops and kept workers on the payroll in 2021.
Argentum joined with the American Health Care Association / National Center for Assisted Living, American Seniors Housing Association, LeadingAge, AMDA – The Society for Post-Acute and Long-term Care Medicine and other organizations in asking for the release of any remaining Provider Relief Funds to providers, as well as supporting the recently introduced Provider Relief Fund Improvement Act.
“We are hopeful that these bills will help signal the importance of restoring funding for the PRF, after $17 billion was shifted from the PRF to pharmaceutical companies to cover vaccine costs, effectively depleting all remaining funds from the PRF,” Argentum said in a statement.
Argentum also called on the administration to improve the delivery of COVID-19 testing supplies to assisted living communities, which it called “inconsistent and inequitable.”
Workforce
Sloan said it’s clear from the State of the Union address that Biden understands that a quality workforce and quality care are “inextricably linked.” LeadingAge has offered strategies to professionalize the direct care workforce through improved recruitment, training and career advancement opportunities, as well as provide a living wage.
AHCA / NCAL President and CEO Mark Parkinson said that policymakers need to prioritize “investing in this chronically underfunded healthcare sector and support providers’ improvement on the metrics that matter for residents” to make real improvements.
“Long-term care was already dealing with a workforce shortage prior to COVID, and the pandemic exacerbated the crisis,” Parkinson said, adding that the sector cannot meet additional staffing requirements if it can’t find people to fill open positions. “Together, we should focus on meaningful solutions that can attract and retain the frontline heroes we need, and strengthen delivering the quality of care and services that our nation’s seniors deserve.”
Affordable housing
Also during the president’s address, affordable housing advocates had their hopes revived that parts of the now-paused Build Back Better Act will be included in the White House’s upcoming fiscal year 2023 budget request, expected to be delivered to Congress the week of March 14. Build Back Better was hailed by the aging services industry for its “historic investments” in home- and community-based services, affordable housing and workforce development.
Calling his plan “building a better America,” Biden said that it includes home care and long-term care as well as affordable housing.
LeadingAge’s affordable housing policy priorities include expanding the supply of affordable senior housing, preserving and improving existing senior housing, and connecting that housing to long-term services and supports for older adults.
