Washington, DC – Emphasizing the need for funding reform to adequately support the long term care workforce, the American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) stated that the slight increase of jobs in the health care sector, reported by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, only further highlights the workforce crisis being faced by millions of elderly Americans.
“The 2.5 million frail, elderly and disabled patients and residents living in our nation’s nursing homes and assisted living residences deserve an adequate workforce to care for their needs,” stated Bruce Yarwood, President & CEO of AHCA. “As the need for long term care is expected to more than double by 2040, we urge Congress and the Administration to recognize that a strong and capable workforce is essential to meet the needs of those Americans that require skilled nursing care now and in the future.”
The BLS study indicated that employment in health care sector increased by 371,600 (2.8%) to 13,481,200 in 2008, with nursing and residential facilities filling 37,600 job vacancies. However, AHCA’s recently-released Nursing Position Vacancy and Turnover Study estimated that nearly 110,000 health care personnel full-time equivalents (FTE) were needed nationwide to fill vacant nursing positions.
“The long term care workforce provides life-sustaining care to frail, elderly and disabled patients and residents in over 16,000 nursing facilities and 39,000 assisted living communities nationwide,” stated David Kyllo, Executive Director of NCAL. “The health care workforce recruitment and retention challenges faced by our profession, specifically the lack of certified gerontological nurses, must be addressed to ensure the needs of our patients and residents can be met.”
The long term care leaders highlighted a recent Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, Retooling for an Aging America, which outlines the current crisis, stating, “The dramatically rising number of older Americans, along with changes in their demographic characteristics, health needs, and settings of care will necessitate transformations related to the education, training, recruitment and retention of the health care workforce serving older adults.”
“We look forward to working with key stakeholders, including providers, policymakers, Congressional leaders, and President Obama to ensure that our nation has a stable, sustainable workforce,” Yarwood concluded. “Promoting sound fiscal policies, designed to strengthen America’s long term care workforce and facilitate the continuing improvement in quality skilled nursing care, is imperative to our nation’s frail and elderly.”
The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL) represent nearly 11,000 non-profit and proprietary facilities dedicated to continuous improvement in the delivery of professional and compassionate care provided daily by millions of caring employees to 1.5 million of our nation's frail, elderly and disabled citizens who live in nursing facilities, assisted living residences, subacute centers and homes for persons with mental retardation and developmental disabilities. For more information, please visit www.ahca.org or www.ncal.org.