BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A new 50-state analysis detailing the significance of the U.S. skilled nursing sector to the strength of America’s economy finds nursing facility-generated economic activity is $16.27 billion annually in the New England region, with 131,802 jobs tied directly to this key state economic driver and employer. The total number of jobs resulting from total nursing facility activity is 192,228 – thus making the skilled nursing sector the region’s second largest health facility employer, after hospitals. The data also find that Connecticut and Massachusetts dominate the six-state region’s facility-generated activity with over $13 billion annually.
Moreover, the study emphasizes the fact stable Medicare funding from Washington in the year ahead is mandatory to propping-up overly strained state Medicaid programs, prevalent throughout the region.
Alan G. Rosenbloom, President of the Washington DC-based Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care, which released the report, stated: “We want to reinforce with the six-state congressional delegation the importance of this key sector to New England’s seniors, New England’s jobs base and New England’s fragile economic recovery. Medicare is more than a key national health program – it is also a cornerstone of rural, suburban and urban economic vitality throughout New England, especially in Massachusetts and Connecticut. As the federal budget debate in Washington begins in earnest, stable Medicare funding in the FY 2012 budget merits broad support on Capitol Hill from lawmakers in each of these six important states.”
The new installment of the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care’s “Care Context” series of health policy analyses, created with analytic support from Avalere Health, a non-partisan health advisory firm, details the fact that, nationally, the U.S. skilled nursing sector accounts for 1.7 million jobs, with a total impact of over $201 billion annually on U.S. economic activity. In terms of economic activity and jobs, the new analysis finds the following in regard to the New England states:
|
State |
NH Jobs |
Total NH-Generated Jobs |
Total NH-Generated Econ Activity |
|||
| MA | 59,812 | 88,791 | $7.83 Billion | |||
| CT | 38,532 | 54,727 | $5.20 Billion | |||
| RI | 10,244 | 14,838 | $1.03 Billion | |||
| NH | 8,245 | 12,193 | $1.01 Billion | |||
| ME | 11,099 | 16,168 | $0.73 Billion | |||
| VT | 3,870 | 5,511 | $0.47 Billion | |||
|
N.E. |
131,802 |
192,228 |
$16.27 Billion |
|||
Emil Parker, Director at Avalere Health, the lead author of the analysis, said nursing facilities across New England and the nation are being forced to respond to the funding squeeze in a variety of ways, including submitting late payments to vendors and being forced to delay facility improvements and maintenance: “Given that the average age of nursing home facilities in the United States is 29 years, delays in maintenance may negatively affect residents’ quality of life. In addition, if nursing facility physical plants cannot be maintained adequately and the sector’s capacity declines as a result, some patients may have to spend more time in higher-cost acute care hospitals because of delays in transfers to nursing facilities,” he said.
Nursing facilities are the dominant provider of Medicare post-acute care services, treating 50 percent of all Medicare beneficiaries who are discharged from hospitals to post-acute care. The majority of patients are short-stay Medicare patients who are discharged from the hospital to the nursing facility, and need restorative and recuperative care before returning to home and their community. Over the past two years, the nursing facility sector – through both federal regulatory and budgetary actions – has been forced to absorb nearly $30 billion nationally in Medicare cuts over ten years.
To View Complete Study, and to Learn More About the Significance of the U.S. Nursing Home Sector to the New England Economy, and its Dominant Role in Caring for Post-Acute Care, go to www.aqnhc.org.