Category: Nursing Homes

Readers and Tweeters Have Mental Health Care on Their Minds

KHN gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.

Watch: Seniors Share How They’ve Made It Through the Pandemic

Nine seniors from across the country talk frankly about feeling alone and constrained, missing church, and family routines. They also share newfound hope and discoveries that arose from the crisis.

At Nursing Homes, Long Waits for Results Render Covid Tests ‘Useless’

As omicron surges, more nursing homes are facing a double whammy: Lab tests are taking too long, and fast antigen tests are in short supply.

In California Nursing Homes, Omicron Is Bad, but So Is the Isolation

Omicron infections are surging in residential care facilities, causing massive sickouts among staff members and an uptick in hospitalizations and deaths. The latest visitor restrictions and testing requirements are also compounding the isolation that residents have suffered for almost two years.

Readers and Tweeters: Give Nurse Practitioners Their Due

KHN gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.

With a Vaccine Mandate Looming, Nursing Homes Face More Staffing Problems

Missouri has the worst covid-19 vaccination rate for nursing home health care workers in the nation. There, the federal mandate for workers to get vaccinated — upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court — reveals the problems that operators have hiring staff, keeping them, and providing decent care.

Families Complain as States Require Covid Testing for Nursing Home Visits

Relatives say it is important they be allowed to go into nursing homes because staff shortages are affecting care. And many are still upset about lengthy separations from loved ones during lockdowns earlier in the pandemic.

As Covid Hits Nursing Homes’ Finances, Town Residents Fight to Save Alzheimer’s Facility

Fear of covid has kept some adults from moving to nursing homes, and many facilities are in trouble financially. When Nevada, Missouri, officials announced they were planning to close a home specializing in dementia care, members of the community rose up in protest.

Nursing Homes Bleed Staff as Amazon Lures Low-Wage Workers With Prime Packages

Add nursing homes to the list of industries jolted by Amazon’s handsome hourly wages. Enticed by an average starting pay rate of $18 an hour and the potential for benefits and signing bonuses, low-wage workers are fleeing entry-level elder care for jobs packing boxes.

After ‘Truly Appalling’ Death Toll in Nursing Homes, California Rethinks Their Funding

California wants to hold nursing homes accountable for the quality of care they provide by tying Medicaid funding more directly to performance. But the nursing home industry, an influential player in the Capitol, is gearing up for a fight.