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Nursing homes waiting for more help as staffing challenges persist

Free Press - 1/13/2022

Jan. 13—MANKATO — Area nursing homes continue to face staffing challenges as they wait on more relief funding to come their way.

Maintaining staff has been an ongoing struggle at long-term care facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic, a predicament shared by clinics and hospitals. Some state and federal resources went toward addressing the shortages, but so far it hasn't kept up with the needs.

Staffing issues remain as much of a problem now as in the fall, said Teresa Hildebrandt, administrator and CEO at St. Peter'sBenedictine Living Community.

"It's a new year, but we're still seeing the carryover from COVID-19," she said. "We're still seeing cases on the rise in the community and it's affecting staff."

Gov. Tim Walz announced new measures Tuesday meant to help short-staffed nursing homes, although the proposals won't bring immediate relief. One measure could steer up to $83 million in Medicare funding to nursing homes experiencing significant staff shortages.

Facilities in crisis would have to apply for the funding, which will take time to set up, said Patti Cullen, president and CEO of Care Providers of Minnesota.

"We'll take it because cash flow is tight and we can use some of that money to shore up our staff or pay some of our vendor bills," she said. "It's crisis money, but it's not available right now."

The governor's other announced measure will raise state payment rates to nursing homes by an average of 5% "to reflect costs of the pandemic." It would be an interim increase while the Minnesota Department of Human Services works to make them permanent.

Hildebrandt welcomed the proposed increase. How helpful it'll be, though, will vary by facility.

"We all have different rates," she said. "Any kind of increase that can be passed along to staff would be helpful."

Hopefully the funding helps, said Monarch Healthcare Management's Chief Operating Officer Marc Halpert. Adjusting staffing at Monarch's nursing homes has been working so far, he added, while previous state efforts to address shortages proved to be short term in nature.

Minnesota National Guard teams, for example, stepped in to help at local facilities for only about a week.

"We'll see if things come to fruition," he said. "We've heard for the last year some help is coming."

Nursing homes face pressing challenges on two fronts these days, Cullen said, one related to omicron's rapid spread and the other to potential vaccine mandates kicking in for nursing home workers.

She described omicron as spreading like wildfire even among people who are highly vaccinated already. It's impacting nursing homes when staff test positive, or their kids test positive and require the parent to stay home.

Omicron's impact is being felt in less obvious ways, too. Garbage isn't being collected at times in some facilities in the state and some labs don't have enough people to process tests, Cullen said.

"It's not as bad as we thought it would be, but still not easy," she said.

Cullen planned to get information Thursday from the Minnesota Department of Health about how many facilities are requesting emergency workers. More National Guard assistance could also come to facilities in crisis.

In the meantime, facilities are waiting for the Supreme Court to weigh in on the federal government's vaccine mandate for nursing home workers. The expectation is that justices will uphold the mandate, Cullen said, allowing a Jan. 27 deadline to stick for workers to get vaccinated or receive exemptions.

If it happens, she estimated about 10% of workers could leave. Some facilities would be harder hit than others, with many nursing homes in central Minnesota having more than 40% of their staff not fully vaccinated, according to federal data.

"There will be some that walk that day," Cullen said.

The four nursing homes in Mankato and one in St. Peter average about 78% staff vaccination rates.

Follow Brian Arola @BrianArola

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