Staffing Shortages Continue for Home Care and MLTC Plans Following Oct. 7th Vaccination Deadline
LeadingAge NY has been polling members for details on their staffing and service shortages and is finding mixed experiences both upstate and downstate. Many members have adapted to the staff losses they are experiencing. Others are seeing significant aide, nurse, and therapist losses; member cases still in need of staffing; a loss of cases requesting shorter and fewer shifts; and a shift in some areas of patients to Consumer Directed care rather than traditional home care services.
We urge members to reach out to us to inform us of any challenges they are experiencing. Please attempt to contact the Department of Health's (DOH) Surge and Flex Operations Center at 917-909-2676 and document your contacts and responses (or lack thereof).
DOH recently provided LeadingAge NY with staffing agency resources for members encountering overpriced staffing charges. These are DOH-identified vendors that have agreed to provide contracts at reasonable rates for facilities in crisis. Please report back to LeadingAge NY if, in fact, this is a reliable resource for members. DOH suggests limiting use of the resource to those facilities that cannot secure reasonable pricing themselves so that these agencies do not quickly run out of resources. Please use your discretion.
Members should note that on Oct. 8th, LeadingAge National sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on the issue of nurse staffing agencies price gouging during this time of unprecedented demand for additional staffing. Please reach out to LeadingAge NY if you are encountering this in the field so that we can start tracking this practice in New York.
Contact: Meg Everett, meverett@leadingageny.org, 518-929-9342