MINNESOTA, USA — Experts say that the state of senior care across Minnesota is only getting worse since the pandemic.
Facilities have lost about 3,000 nursing home beds since 2020 due to financial troubles and short staffing.
In fact, this month, the MN Department of Health found a facility caring for patients with dementia near Rochester is in violation for routinely scheduling only one caregiver overnight, when at times, it has up to 59 people there. A patient there required two personnel and a mechanical lift for transfers.
MDH said it had seven days to come into compliance. Prairie Meadows' spokesperson Meg Harper said on Friday it only took the facility 24 hours to "adjust to the unscheduled or potential needs of current residents. We would like to reiterate that at no point was the health and safety of any resident impacted. We were simply asked to adjust our staffing patterns."
But the industry's problems are complex and the solutions aren't easy either, according to Care Providers of Minnesota CEO Toby Pearson. His nonprofit advocates for hundreds of assisted living facilities and nursing homes across the state.
"From an on-the-ground perspective, our workforce still has not come back," said Pearson. "Things take time and the eternal optimist in me says we're going to get there next year."
The persistent staffing shortages led to eight nursing home closures in 2023 and 15 more in the three years before then.
Next year, Pearson hopes the legislature provides another funding boost like last year. That's when lawmakers approved $173 million in one-time funding that helped pay down debt. He said more money will boost wages and recruit workers.
"There needs to be quality care that's provided and it's not acceptable to fail in that," said Pearson.
There are new federal regulations that now require certain minimum staffing levels, as well as minimum pay requirements. Minnesota also created a new workforce standards board that Pearson said, given all the problems, can be hard to meet.
"At the same time we have to try and do better," said Pearson.
Other suggestions to improve the industry is to re-think ownership, create smaller nursing homes and improve oversight and reporting.