Anyone With Nursing Home Experience?
Friday, January 1st, 2010 - 11:29pm
Does anyone here have experience with nursing homes? Either having a family member in one or working for one?
Myself and a couple friends believe there are some major flaws in how the industry works (from a management, record-keeping, and accounting/financing POV), but none of us have any real first-hand experiences with nursing homes.
Anyone worked for one/know anyone who work(s) for one, or has had a family member in one?
My mother-in-law has, but she was more directly involved in care. Not so much in management/finance etc.
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I know a few girls who have been caregivers.
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Do a Google search on the words nursing, home & scandal to get started. There have been several in the last 10 years. They have ranged from neglect, through abuse and into fraud.
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The Corporate Narc has one major point that's wrong. There are plenty of rules and regulations regarding nursing homes, they simply aren't enforced. Even when violations are reported they are often simply ignored.
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*looks at the open can of worms and dives in*
I have worked in Nursing Homes for 14 years as a physical therapy assistant. My mother lived the last years of her life in the home I work in. I will not deny that there are issues. I will state that it also depends on your state and their regulation. Where I live and work, the state and county are very involved with not much getting past them. I have been fortunate in my choice of buildings. You know the therapy company is good, as for the buildings, you can never been sure. Of all the administrators I have worked with, only one I would question their ethics. I didn't stay in that building long.
As for the finances, where I work, it is very straight forward. There are 2 prices for a space. The first is the skilled sub-acute unit. These beds are reserved for the folks coming from a hospital for therapy. The Long-term beds are for those who cannot go home after therapy because of the lasting issues and end of life care. These are a lower rate. The rate difference is due to staffing. And before you ask, I do not know the ratios. I do know that our building is staffed above the state regulated number of GNA:Resident.
*edit by me after rereading the question*
The entire nursing home industry can be boiled down into a few sentences. Wheither the home is publicly held for profit, a private home or a non-profit home the costs of providing care are rising. The money coming in to pay for the services provided is finite and it is not changing as costs rise. Management is faced with a no win situation. They are required by law to provide a standard level of care and some choose to go above the minimium level. The result is cutting corners wherever they can to continue making the same profit they were a few years ago. Some choose the better way and some choose a bad way.
I think it is best to stop there. Any further statements and Certis/Elysium are likely to move this thread to P&C
For all those men who say, “Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free,” here’s an update for you. Now 80 percent of women are against marriage, why? Because women realize it’s not worth buying an entire pig, just to get a little sausage. ~ Andy R
I used to work a lot with nursing home administrators and CFO's. I can tell you their world in nutshell. Unless they have huge private funding like some of the Masonic homes they're all cash poor and sucking revenue. They need to maintain an 80/20 public/private payor mix otherwise there's no way they'd be able to keep their doors open. If you've ever wondered why out of pocket nursing home cost are insanely high it's because they're footing the bill for everyone else.
The rates in NYS haven't been amended since 1983. Their over financials are dismal.
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