Lifespark’s Erin Hilligan, Senior VP, Operations, was interviewed by Diane Eastabrook with Modern Healthcare about her take on the latest federal nursing home staffing mandate. Diane wrote, “home health companies fear care delivery could get harder as a federal nursing home staffing mandate forces them to vie for a limited pool of talent with skilled nursing facilities.
According to Hilligan, Lifespark took about 80 skilled nursing home beds out of service during the COVID-19 pandemic and would like to put some beds back into service but the federal staffing requirements and the shortage of workers is leaving us having second thoughts. “No matter how you look at it, there just aren’t enough pairs of hands,” Hilligan said. “Fewer beds fix one problem, but that just pushes the [need for care] somewhere else, like home health.”