A majority of long-term care providers indicated they won't last another year under current financial conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, a recent survey found.
In the national surveys conducted by the American Health Care Association (AHCA) and National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL), 72% of responding nursing homes and 64% of assisted living facilities indicated they "can’t sustain another year at the current pace of increased costs and revenue loss."
At least 40% of nursing homes indicated they couldn't sustain another six months under the current conditions.
The surveys collected responses from 463 nursing homes and 193 assisted living facilities between Aug. 8-10.
The surveys also found:
- 55% of nursing home respondents said they were operating at a loss and 89% of nursing homes said were operating a profit margin of 3% or less. Meanwhile, 50% of assisted living facilities said they were operating at a loss while 73% had a profit margin of 3% of less.
- The top drivers of increased expenses for nursing homes include PPE (97%) staff pay (78%) and additional staff (46%). The top drivers of increased expenses for assisted living facilities is also PPE (95%), staff "hero pay" (55%) and cleaning supplies (50%).
- 93% of nursing homes reported government funding is extremely or very important to help with COVID-related losses for their company.
Long-term care facilities have become a focal point in the fight against COVID-19 as some homes became hotbeds for the spread of the virus among vulnerable patients.
Last month, the AHCA and NCAL warned the spikes in cases across the U.S.—combined with ongoing shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) and testing delays—will make it difficult to protect residents from the virus.
In July, the Trump administration announced it was allocating an additional $5 billion in COVID-19 relief funds to Medicare-certified long-term care facilities and state veteran nursing homes in hot spots where the virus began spiking again.