Archive for: July, 2009
Minimum wage increase may threaten financial stability of LTC facilities
The federal minimum wage, which Congress set at $6.55 an hour two years ago, jumped to $7.25 an hour on July 24. The 70 cent increase is the third such rise in as many years thanks to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) amendment of 2007, which brought the minimum wage up to $5.85 that year. The annual increases have coincided with the continual decline of the economy, sparking debate as to whether or not a higher minimum wage serves to benefit troubled times through rejuvenated consumer spending, or in fact further propels the downward spiral as a result of greater job loss numbers.
The dispute has far from evaded the long-term care industry. With already tight budgets, the latest minimum wage increase may force many nursing homes to make adjustments in order to hire or maintain enough staff.
“Any increase in the minimum wage could impact the financial stability of long-term care facilities that pay workers at or below the amount,” says Jeannie Adams, an attorney at Hancock, Daniel, Johnson & Nagle, PC, in Richmond, VA.
Although the national average wage for nursing aides is $11.84 an hour, according to the May 2008 National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates, approximately 10% of nursing aides earn less than $8.34 and hour, which is only $1.09 higher than the new minimum wage amount.
“Fortunately, most certified nursing assistants [CNA] are already paid higher than minimum wage,” says Sue LaBelle, MSN, RN, RAC-CT, a senior healthcare specialist at PointRight in Lexington, MA. “However, if nursing homes are paying entry level CNAs or members of the housekeeping or maintenance staff lower than minimum wage, the new amount could have a ripple effect across the board.”
Our top 20 Twitter feed recommendations
As social networking and micro-blogging Web sites become a popular resource for people looking for up-to-the-minute information, many long-term care providers, associations, and professionals are turning to Twitter (www.twitter.com). Twitter allows its users to update their friends, colleagues, customers, or any interested individual about news, new products, or other information they would like to share. We use Twitter to alert our followers about long-term care regulations and to share industry news and helpful tips.
In doing so, we have come across a number of informative Twitter feeds related to long-term care. The following is a list of our top 20, arranged alphabetically. Each includes a brief description:
- aarpbulletin – Tweets for AARP, covering health care reform and other related topics
- agooddaughter – Tweets about long-term care management
- ahcancal –Tweets for the American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living about a variety of health care issues, including news involving long-term care
- AlzheimersInfo – Tweets about caring for those with Alzheimer’s disease and/or dementia
- ALZHEIMERSread – Tweets for the Alzheimer’s Reading room about resources available in caring for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and/or dementia
- AMDALTCMedicine – Tweets about long-term care medication news and health care reform
- ASCpolicy – Tweets about the need for affordable improvements in long-term care and assisted living
- choiceeldercare – Tweets about long-term care options and insurance issues
- consultdoc – Tweets about health care finance and patient quality
- daccarte – Tweets about enhancing the quality of life for seniors
- Donnawcei – Tweets about wound care
- ElderCareRN – Tweets about providing care for seniors and the long-term care industry
- lbramly –Tweets about caring for those with Alzheimer’s disease and/or dementia
- Medpac – Tweets about health care reform
- mjimenez13 – Tweets about Medicare
- nih_gov – Tweets for the National Institutes of Health about medical technology, research, and advances
- NewHealthDialog –Tweets about health care reform, particularly regarding cost, quality, and coverage
- payersproviders – Tweets about the health care industry and business policy
- SeniorsResource – Tweets about providing care information for seniors and their caretakers
- WSJHealthBlog – Tweets for the Wall Street Journal Health Blog about health news, analysis, and business
Follow MDSCentral on Twitter for quick updates about the day-to-day happenings in the long-term care industry.
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