Long-term care facilities face a ton of challenges when it comes to staffing — high staff turnover and difficulty attracting qualified staff being the most problematic. These challenges have resulted in widespread long-term care staffing shortages, and continue to plague the industry in 2023.

High staffing turnover

As stated above, one of the main challenges to staffing in long-term care facilities is high staff turnover. The average nursing home turns over more than half of its staff every single year, according to the Long-Term Care Community Coalition. This includes registered nursing staff.

The top causes behind high staffing turnover include new staff who do not intend to stay in their position long-term, staff burning out more often and a lack of overall job satisfaction.

Not only is routinely onboarding and training new staff members costly and time-consuming, but it can also lead to a lack of continuity of care for residents as new staff members may not be as familiar with their needs and preferences.

Attracting and retaining talent

According to a recent survey from the American Health Care Association, 97% of responding providers said a lack of interested or qualified candidates is a major obstacle to hiring new staff.

Adding fuel to the flame, many nursing homes are located in rural or underserved areas, which can make it difficult to attract staff members. Additionally, the demanding nature of the work, coupled with necessarily low wages and limited benefits, can make it difficult to retain staff members.

“As a provider that uniquely relies on government funding, policymakers must help nursing homes better compete for nurses and nurse aides, as well as build up the pipeline to incentivize more people to pursue a career in long term care,” said Mark Parkinson, president and CEO of AHCA, following a similar survey released in June 2022. 

Where does automation fit?

Back office automation is one lever that can be pulled to alleviate long-term care staffing shortages.

Automation software like accounting, payroll, employee training and bill pay can streamline processes and make the work environment more efficient and attractive to administrative staff. This can help free up time for all staff members to focus on providing care to residents, and can make the work environment more appealing to potential employees.

Back office automation like accounts payable software can reduce the need to hire clerks. Accounts payable clerking is a job field that is seeing similar staffing shortages in every industry, not just long-term care. By eliminating a need for a largely unwanted job position, accounts payable automation could potentially enable long-term care companies to increase the hiring wage of clinical staff to attract more candidates and provide higher levels of care for residents.

Automation will also help reduce the burden on nursing home administrators, who can then focus on other important tasks, such as attracting and retaining qualified staff.

The issue of long-term care staffing is a complex and multifaceted problem that affects nursing homes throughout the United States, Canada, and abroad. By implementing automation to improve back office efficiency, nursing homes can help ease some of the challenges they face and focus more resources on providing care to residents.

Kevin Pritchard is the Head Product Owner at Fideisc, an accounts payable automation provider specializing in software for long-term care organizations. For more than 10 years, Kevin has worked with businesses in healthcare and other industries to optimize accounting efficiency.

The opinions expressed in McKnight’s Long-Term Care News guest submissions are the author’s and are not necessarily those of McKnight’s Long-Term Care News or its editors.