Fueled by the pandemic, post-acute care facilities are bracing for unparalleled workforce challenges in the next 24 months, executives said during a keynote session at Becker's Post-Acute Virtual Forum Nov. 16.
Three executives shared their thoughts around what best- and worst-case scenarios look like for post-acute care facilities during the panel, titled, "Post-acute care and the pandemic: What health systems need to know to thrive in the next 24 months." The panelists were:
- Lori Dove, vice president and chief administrative officer at Southeastern Health (Lumberton, N.C.)
- Kerry Gillihan, DSc, president/CEO of Vanderbilt Home Care Division (Nashville, Tenn.)
- Harry Reese Jr., vice president of post-acute and home care at Ochsner Health in New Orleans
Here is an excerpt from the conversation, lightly edited for clarity. To view the full session on demand, click here.
Question: What would be the best and the worst things to happen to post-acute care providers over the next 24 months from your perspective?
Harry Reese Jr.: The best case would be a wider adoption of telemedicine. We've seen a huge transformation in terms of acceptance from both patients and providers in the use of telemedicine through COVID-19. If the post-acute providers were to build that into their standard practices, that would become a tremendous benefit.
The worst-case scenario is the lack of available staffing at every level of care. We're having difficulty recruiting for nurses, especially in this area. We're offering huge sign-on bonuses now to try to get people into nursing. There is contingency planning that all facilities and post-acute providers will need to take into consideration as they look toward the future.
Dr. Kerry Gillihan: One thing that's exacerbating the availability of employees, particularly out in rural America where a lot of the home care employees are paid at a lower rate, is government subsidies. It's been rewarding for some people to use unemployment benefits versus going to work every day and risking being exposed to COVID-19 and bringing it home to their families. The recruitment issue is an ever-present constant. We cannot keep up with it, and the demand keeps increasing.
Lori Dove: If we could get some traction behind the extension of home dialysis and payments for that and equipment, that would help us a lot. One of the worst things is the absence of services that we've seen with mental health services, like "Meals on Wheels" type of food deliveries. The divide between social determinants of health seems to be getting larger than it was prior to the pandemic.
We also need financial support for staffing. Initially, the staff was excited. They were embracing what we needed to do, but the resilience of this team, they are being worn down. We need some help in being able to give them a break, find appropriate staffing levels, help them to get a good work-life balance and not fear so much that they might contract the disease or take it home.