“In the Nursing Home, Empty Beds and Quiet Halls,” by Paula Span, New York Times

“The most recent quarterly survey from the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing and Care reported that nearly one nursing home bed in five now goes unused. Occupancy has reached 81.7 percent, the lowest level since the research organization began tracking this data in 2011, when it was nearly 87 percent. … Given an aging population, you’d think nursing homes would be coping with the opposite problem — surging demand for their services.”

LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform):

Wrong conclusion. Nursing home bias in LTC was entirely an artifact of easy access to Medicaid funding after care was needed. Inadequate reimbursement from Medicaid made nursing home care so undesirable, affluent people became willing to spend their own money for better care at home or in assisted living. The fundamental problem now is the Medicaid is moving into those care venues too and may ruin them as well.

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#nursing