SPECIAL HFAM UPDATE
State of the Union Address
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Friends,
Tonight, President Biden will make his first State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress. As someone who studied the US Presidency at John Hopkins University, I can tell you that the SOTU is a powerful bully pulpit tool of US domestic and foreign policy.
A President’s words at the State of the Union address can leave a lasting mark in terms of public messaging, and both domestic and foreign policy.
Journalist and author of Saturday Evening Post Jeff Nilsson wrote in 2018, “Few addresses touched as many American lives as the 1964 message from Lyndon Johnson, which launched his a highly ambitious unconditional war on poverty.”
In 1975, President Gerald Ford broke with the long tradition of presidents declaring the state of the union was strong. Ford had the courage to honestly say, “I want to speak very bluntly. I’ve got bad news, and I don’t expect much, if any, applause.”
Given the scale and impact of this address and considering that the world is on the verge of a war in Europe, it is unfortunate and unusual that President Biden would spend eight to ten minutes of his first SOTU, as McKnight’s Long-Term Care News reports, “Walloping nursing homes with planned staffing requirements and increased penalties.”
Here are some of the points President Biden will make and which will be expanded upon after the SOTU tonight:
- The pandemic has highlighted the tragic impact of substandard conditions at nursing homes, which are home to many of our most at-risk community members.
- Despite the tens of billions of federal taxpayer dollars flowing to nursing homes each year, too many continue to provide poor, sub-standard care that leads to avoidable resident harm.
- Without decisive action now, these unacceptable conditions may get worse.
- Private equity firms have been buying up struggling nursing homes, and research shows that private equity-owned nursing homes tend to have significantly worse outcomes for residents.
- The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will integrate new lessons on standards of care into nursing home requirements around fire safety, infection control, and other areas, using an equity lens.
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HERE'S WHAT I KNOW:
- Not all skilled nursing and rehabilitation centers are either perfect or equal; there are some I’d want to be in and some I’d not want to be in.
- Regardless of whether nursing homes are funded by venture capital or traditional lending, it is bad if they are overleveraged -- it's not about the funding source, it is about the leverage.
- The best centers (and there are many of them) value quality care as well as diversity, inclusion, and equity. These centers are in it for the long haul.
- Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates are not negotiable and are directly related to adequate staffing.
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As someone with relatives receiving care in nursing homes across multiple states, as a leader at HFAM and within AHCA, and drawing upon all of my career experience, I can honestly say that we NEED nursing homes.
- Powerful innovations happen when we come together to focus on shared interests at the intersection of people, quality, empowerment, equity, and funding.
- In our now two-year fight against COVID-19, skilled nursing and rehabilitation centers, their quality care teams, and their organizations are true healthcare heroes.
We’ve been talking over the last couple of years about the turbulent times our sector faces going forward.
We knew that the pandemic would worsen the workforce crisis, that the slow recovering census crisis would extend financial challenges, and that increased mergers and acquisitions in the sector and negative national media attention (much of it undeserved) would have a cumulative impact that would fuel calls for rate and delivery reform, mandatory staffing, wage pass-throughs, and rebalancing.
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NOTE: Nursing Home Situational Update. To see HFAM’s recent presentation on the state of the long-term and post-acute care sector to the Maryland Health Care Commission, CLICK HERE. For a video of the meeting, CLICK HERE. Please watch to the end to see my presentation and that of my colleague Kevin Heffner, President and CEO of LifeSpan.
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Let me also say what we’ve made clear these last two years: Together, WE WILL successfully navigate these challenging times. We will be united, focused, driven by data, and dedicated to quality care. Together, we will build on key relationships and share our quality story. That said, the road we are on is long and there will be many peaks and valleys on the way. It is indeed a marathon and not a sprint. But again, we will succeed.
Finally, kudos to FutucreCare, a partner in important work on Tele-Medicine Innovation. CLICK HERE for the Journal of American Medical Directors (JAMDA) article.
So, let me end on this: THANK YOU!
Thank you for the quality care you and your teams provide to Marylanders in need. Thank you for your membership in HFAM, and thank you in advance for the data-driven and focused work we will do over the next couple of years to fight for our sector and quality care.
Skilled nursing and rehabilitation centers in Maryland are HOME to tens of thousands of Marylanders in need. Ours is a people caring for people sector, with tens of thousands of team members providing quality care. Together, we will remind people of that.
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Joe DeMattos
President and CEO
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Want to see previous HFAM updates?
Visit our website to view all previous HFAM alerts, as well as guidance
from our federal and state partners.
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