August 2023

It's news -- 600 nursing homes closed so what’s the strategy to fix? Rant on.  You may have read a depressing article this morning in the Wall Street Journal about the number of people stuck in hospitals with no place to go because there are no nursing homes to take them – which is the status in the UK’s National Health System (NHS).  That was an embarrassment in the UK – and this is a scandal in the US. It never should not have gotten to this point. So many factors crushed nursing homes -- Covid and Private Equity nursing home ownership were big players, followed by government strategy to undermine them. For 14 years, Florida banned new nursing home construction. The federal “Money Follows the Person” was introduced in 2005 to enable seniors to avoid them and receive Medicaid-paid services. Reauthorized repeatedly, it is now authorized through 2027. 

You may not have noticed much about the death of landlines. But it has been underway for a while, and now the government is supporting their demise. For some time now, telephone companies like AT&T have been trying to eliminate landlines and are no longer required to maintain these copper connections. You probably think, well that must be good, because those landlines cost as much as $55/month. So that’s a cost savings, right? But wait.

And in other news, CMS really wants older adults with dementia to remain in their homes.  The government agency seems to have given up on improving the quality or affordability of dementia care in senior living or nursing homes. The new GUIDE program will support caregivers and ‘enable people living with dementia to remain in their homes and communities.’ But is that the best setting for dementia care? No way to share meals with others, access staff-run activities, and build on the expertise of caring for people with dementia that the senior-related industries already established?  Never mind enabling caregivers to enter a robust job market away from their homes. Just asking. Here are the posts: