Virginia’s Self-Inflicted Nursing Home Crisis – Part 1
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15 responses to “Virginia’s Self-Inflicted Nursing Home Crisis – Part 1”
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Just another reason to not retire in Virginia. As if the high cost of living wasn’t enough of one.
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When time comes, these facilities will suck universally.
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Somehow bucking the trend that things in Virginia suck at least a little more than the average among all state? (Except for Federal employment, well above average there…)
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I have found that the treatment of patients in nursing homes depends strongly on the frequency of visits to the homes by friends and relatives.
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Those visits are both necessary and insufficient. No friend or relative can see what the inspectors see.
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Not to mention vulture capitalists, er, I meant private equity buyouts. And it’s everywhere getting worse. What’s the Navy Retirement Village? There was one in California that really got black marks. The one in Pensacola, like the two AF Villages in TX still rate AAA++, but that’s because they are co-ops. Funny, co-op has good connotations and coop doesn’t.
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I’m just getting started on this.
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BTW, you should check out AFV II. You’d like it. It has 4 levels of care from independent living through to EoL care. It’s owned by the residents, managed by Marriott. There is a Alzheimer’s research facility on the grounds. The residents take an active role in the nursing facilities so there’s always “eyes on” the care given.
Buy in now, move in later.
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We have several excellent Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRC) here in Virginia. Westminster Canterbury is perhaps the best large chain. The Goodwin House CCRCs in Alexandria and Falls Church are also excellent.
I only have gathered data for the SNF/NF facilities in the CCRCs, but they tend to be very good. I mention them in part 2 and will again throughout the series.
AFI II, no longer exclusively for retired military officers, is now called “The Vista at Blue Skies of Texas West”. It is rated 5 stars. There are 71 nursing facilities in San Antonio, and only 5 of them are rated 5 stars. 24 are rated one star.
Among the military focused CCRC’s, the nursing facilities at Arleigh Burke Pavilion in McLean and Johnson Center at Falcon’s Landing in Loudoun are both rated 5 stars by CMS.
Virginia Department of Veterans Services runs two excellent nursing homes, Sitter and Barfoot Veterans Care Center in Richmond (5-star) and the Virginia Veterans Care Center (VVCC) in Roanoke (4 star).
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I was quite familir with AFV II. Dad made a weird decision, but in retrospect, it was the best decision he could have made. He chose a place midway between his sons resulting in making equally difficult for either of us to visit more than two or three times a year. But it is top notch.
I’m certain there are 5-star facilities in Va., but bang-for-buck… My mother and mother-in-law both required Alzheimer’s facilities. Mom and Dad made the choice themselves. The wife chose her mom’s but based on being close and 5-star. The cost? AFV Ii was $3500/month. The oher was $7000/month (2009 to 2013 both). Just between the two of us, the spousal unit’s mom got ripped off.
As far as care level is concerned, with admittedly limited exposure, OWNERSHIP is the key to how the facility operates.
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Your level of care in EoL facilities is directly affected by your income. My advice to aging retirees is to establish a source of income that makes you attractive to 4, and 5-star facilities. If you have sufficient assets that marital benefits of Social Security is negligible, divorce and live together, establish Irrevocable Trusts and be prepared.
The rest of you are screwed.
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Same issue as with the VEC would be my guess………..decades of chronic underfunding
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This is not my area, but I thought it might help to shed a little budget light on this subject.
Based on public documents, the OLC is ” primarily a federal funded office.” In its budget request for the 2020 General Assemly, VDH requested an additional appropriation in federal CARE money for OLC of $1.3 million, spread over three years. It also requested $59,288 in state GF appropriation. It explained that it needed this appropriation to cover increased non-personal services costs. Because these costs had risen, it had been forced to leave personnel vacancies open longer than usual in order to free up appropriation for the non-personal services costs. It did not request any additional positions. The Governor included the request in his budget submission and the GA approved it.
VDH did not request any additional appropriation for OLC in its request for the next biennium.
As for the assertion that it is primarily a federally funded office, the numbers bear that out. In FY 2021, VDH spent $13.1 million for “Regulation of Health Care Facilities”. Almost two-thirds of that amount was from federal funds. State GF made up 16% of the expenditures. The remainder was from state NGF funds. (I don’t know enough about the VDH budget to comment on those sources.)
VDH’s position is that OLC should be funded out of federal money with only the minimum required state match being provided by the Commonwealth. It is important to note that this is not a new position with this administration; it goes back to at least FY 2010.
In summary, if the feds don’t provide additional funding for the inspection of nursing homes, Virginia does not feel compelled to put up additional money of its own. Given the importance of nursing homes, that seems shortsighted to me.
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Dick, I think what you are seeing is the Governor’s budget request.
I have quoted testimony from the Deputy Health Commissioner for governmental affairs that OLC has been for years requesting far more money than has been reflected in the Governor’s budget.
This series has demonstrated with government data that OLC demonstrably cannot do their jobs in protecting the health, safety and lives of Virginians with the funding they get.
As for OLC being a federally funded office, you appear to have identified the source of the problem if the Governors and their budget staff really believe that.
The OLC is responsible for state inspections for the purposes of state licensing in addition to the federal certification inspections.
The federal helicopter money was there to refund the costs of the additional inspection demands of COVID, not the normal statuary inspection requirements,
It will be interesting to see how long Virginia is going to get away with violating their contract with CMS.
Failure to complete the inspections on time is a breach of both the contract and the Social Security Act.
I intend to file a complaint with the federal HHS IG about this.
I know absolutely that Glenn Youngkin will fix this because he knows the details based on my reporting and has promised to do so. Any sentient citizen would.
I have documented how many times McAuliffe was notified of the shortfall.
He simply took so much money from the people that were subject to inspections that he ignored the need.
As for Northam and his unfortunate choice as Health Commissioner, it’s like picking on paraplegics, cruel and a waste of time.
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[…] the first three installments of this series here, here and […]
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