More Jobs Available In Skilled Nursing Facility Industry This April

Skilled Nursing Facility

The healthcare industry added around 34,000 employment positions in April 2022, but only a fraction of them was for the US skilled nursing facility segment. The American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living expressed relief at the data available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics report. However, it is worth noting that the numbers are not enough for the industry to recover the thousands of caregiver jobs that people lost during the pandemic.

The American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living stated that while providers are making every possible move to hire and retain people, there is a need for government backing to add more jobs faster. AHCA/NCAL recommended policymakers not only invest in the so-called frontline heroes but also develop policies that would aid in recruiting and retaining thousands of caregivers for long-term care centers.

Residential health providers, hospitals and physician offices experienced the biggest increase in the number of healthcare workers.

Physician practices in the US added around 10,000 jobs, whereas home health service providers recruited about 8,000 people last month. US hospitals, meanwhile, brought in 4,500 employment positions in April 2022, but the industry remains down almost 100,000 positions since the coronavirus started.

The LTC industry lost up to 2,500 employment positions in March 2022, which further deepens the labor shortage issue to an unprecedented level for the last fifteen years.

As per a LeadingAge representative, it is high time to tackle the workforce-related challenges that occur due to bad policies from elected officials and years of underfinancing government-supported LTC services. According to that representative, staffing should be the first priority of the industry.

The Association of Aging Services Providers (AASP) has proposed bids to overcome the crisis, including the following.

• More compensation to frontline staffers through more federal FMAP financing.
• Making a change to the immigration policy of the US to allow international nursing staffers to reach the nation faster and tackle price gouging from staffing agencies.
• Expanding the candidate pipeline through apprenticeship and training programs.

For your information, the term price gouging refers to the practice of increasing the prices of goods or services to unreasonable levels. It is among the serious issues for assisted living facilities and nursing homes in many parts of the nation. When staffing agencies use price gouging, it becomes a headache for LTC facilities that keep suffering stagging shortages.