While the nation turns the page on the crisis stage of the COVID-19 pandemic, Argentum is asking the Biden administration to redouble its efforts to help vulnerable older adults and their frontline caregivers.
In a letter to President Biden in advance of the release of the administration’s budget priorities yesterday, Argentum President and CEO James Balda reiterated the advocacy group’s call for federal assistance, including targeted financial relief for providers, renewal of a public-private partnership on vaccine and booster shots, and workforce training programs to address staffing shortages.
With the rise in omicron subvariants accelerating and ongoing pandemic-related financial stress, Balda said that now is the most crucial time for the White House to step up and help. He said the “pandemic, much less the crisis stage, is far from over” for the almost 2 million older adults in assisted living, memory care, independent living and continuing care retirement communities.
Argentum estimates that senior living communities have incurred more than $30 billion in pandemic expenses and losses, Balda reiterated. The current Phase 4 distributions from the Provider Relief Fund reimburse providers for less than one fourth of their losses at a time when losses increased by 300%, he added.
“While other providers have received relief offsetting nearly all of their losses, senior living providers have been overlooked time and again and have received relief offsetting less than 5% of their losses,” the CEO wrote. “This is despite six relief packages and more than $6 trillion in federal spending that was authorized to help meet the challenges on the frontlines of the crisis.”
Senior living providers also face “enormous financial and logistical challenges” with testing and vaccines, he said, calling for the federal government to resume its on-site vaccine / booster clinic support, as well as replenish test supplies needed to mitigate the spread of the virus.
Workforce shortages also remain a challenge for the industry. During the first 20 months of the pandemic, Balda said, the senior living industry lost more than 100,000 workers, resulting in 96% of communities facing staff shortages.
“There are simply not enough caregivers available to meet our seniors’ needs, and this deficit will only grow larger, especially if providers are unable to weather the current public health crisis,” he wrote.
The heads of the American Health Care Association / National Center for Assisted Living and LeadingAge also recently sent letters to the federal government seeking more COVID-related assistance in the form of funds or prioritization for testing and treatments, including a separate process for long-term care pharmacies to order all COVID treatments directly.
