Ninety percent of nursing home operators are currently operating at a loss or at a profit margin of less than 3% — with almost two-thirds of them operating a loss, according to a new industry survey.
Two-thirds of nursing homes also revealed that their facility or company won’t make it another year at their current operating pace due to increased costs. The findings were released Wednesday by the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living in an effort to provide insight on nursing homes’ financial and staffing challenges caused by the pandemic.
“Our nursing home providers are facing the worst financial crisis in the history of the industry due to increased costs related to COVID (testing, personal protective equipment, staffing) and chronic Medicaid underfunding,” AHCA/NCAL President and CEO Mark Parkinson explained.
Staffing also remains a top concern based on the survey findings. Fifty-eight percent of respondents said additional staff pay and hiring new workers have been their biggest costs incurred because of COVID-19.
Some 70% of respondents said they’ve hired additional staff, while 90% of providers have needed current staff to work overtime and have provided hero pay.
“Without adequate resources, the U.S. will repeat the same mistakes made during the initial outbreak last spring,” Parkinson added.
An AHCA survey conducted in April found that more than 70% providers were struggling to find adequate personal protective equipment for workers at the time. Parkinson in April also pleaded that nursing homes felt forgotten during the early days of the pandemic and desperately needed assistance to halt the spread.
