As nursing homes try to open to visitors again per guidance laid out by the Trump administration, testing costs and resources may be a serious roadblock.
Testing every nursing home resident and staff member just once would cost about $440 million nationwide, according to data released in May by the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living in May. The data also revealed that testing workers weekly would cost more than $1 billion per month.
“For months now, we have been advocating for expanded and priority testing in nursing homes to protect our residents and caregivers, but this is a significant undertaking and cost for nursing homes to shoulder on their own,” AHCA/NCAL President and CEO Mark Parkinson said.
Among states where testing is most expensive, the effort would cost about $36.3 million in California and $33.9 million in New York. Among the least-expensive states, universal testing in Wyoming and Vermont would cost about $658,000 and $925,000, respectively, AHCA said.
