Opinion: Paying for elder care
The Tacoma News Tribune recently ran an opinion piece on long term care for the elderly. Here’s an exceprt:
“Thou shalt honor your mother and father,” reads the Fifth Commandment. While various religions differ in many respects, people of faith all share a core belief in the need to respect and care for our elders.
That core belief, however, is hard to find in our state budget, particularly when it comes to adequately funding quality care for the elderly and disabled.
Our state’s nursing homes – home to many of the most vulnerable among us – are in crisis. Over the last seven years, more than 30 nursing homes have closed their doors, leaving hundreds of needy elderly and disabled residents and their families scrambling for care.
Turnover among direct care providers working in nursing homes in state is 71 percent. This high turnover rate leads to unstable care for the vulnerable residents.
A major factor in this crisis is that state reimbursement rates for nursing homes are still based on 1999 costs despite the drastically climbing cost of providing quality care.
Nursing homes are far different places then they were 20, 10, or even five years ago. In Washington, like most of the rest of the nation, nursing homes are caring for residents with higher acuity levels, or greater care needs. As longer-stay, less-disabled residents are able to remain in their home or enter assisted living, the concentration of residents requiring highly acute or end-of-life care in nursing homes has increased and will continue to increase.