Source: BizNewsPA, Friday, March 3, 2023

WHO’S SOUNDING ALARMS: Organizations that represent nursing homes and care providers for people with intellectual disabilities. The organizations are warning of continued labor shortages that are jeopardizing access to care. Providers have struggled to attract workers in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

• Nearly one-third of nursing homes in Pennsylvania have at least 21 openings for direct-care providers, according to a new report by the Pennsylvania Health Care Association, which says inadequate staffing leads nursing homes to deny entry to people seeking care.
• In the world of services for people with intellectual disabilities and autism, staff shortages and underfunding have spurred an 11% drop in the number of people being served over the last three years, according to research by the Rehabilitation and Community Providers Association, Pennsylvania Advocacy and Resources for Autism and Intellectual Disability and The Provider Alliance.
• The groups described the care system for people with intellectual disabilities as being in a state of collapse.

The bottom line: Provider groups have been pressing for increases in state and federal aid to cope with rising costs and growing demand for services.

• Their new research comes ahead of next week’s budget address by Gov. Josh Shapiro, scheduled for March 7.