The pandemic has made staffing at nursing homes even more challenging. But for the first time, it's easier to find out what staff-turnover is like at nursing homes in your area.
Meicare is now posting those details on its website.
You can select a particular nursing home, then click "view staffing information."
"We've historically been known to have a high turnover as other sectors are too, and a lot of it relates back to that most of the nursing homes are paid by Medicaid and we just weren't able to offer the competitive wages that hospitals and other health care providers are," said Dr. David Gifford of the American Health Care Association.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services researched the links between staff turnover and quality of care. Initial results suggest as staff turnover decreases, overall quality rating for a facility increases.
Starting this summer, the agency will start using the information on staff turnover to calculate its quality rates for facilities. The American Health Care Association says many workers do want to stay, but points to factors like low wages or child care problems as reasons for leaving.
The Association's chief medical officer believes the public is really seeing how bad the staffing situation is through the Care Compare website.
Medicare says posting the new turnover information for consumers will not create additional burdens like paperwork for nursing homes. The data is already regularly reported to the government. It's just now becoming accessible to the public.
For more information, click here.
