The head of Alaska’s nursing home association says that a federal requirement that nursing homes mandate their employees be vaccinated against COVID-19 could worsen the state’s already stretched hospital capacity.
The Biden administration said nursing homes will have to have fully-vaccinated staff in order to receive Medicare and Medicaid funding, according to national news reports on Wednesday.
“In one respect, it’s a very positive development to see more people get vaccinated,” said Jared Kosin, head of the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association. “But in another respect, it’s really hard to say if this is gonna end up pushing some of the workforce out, which is something we really can’t afford.”
Kosin said that if workers quit over the vaccine requirement, nursing homes could be forced to cut their capacity, something that some of them have already had to do. That could affect how many hospital patients can be moved out of the ICU into nursing home beds. Hospitals ICUs are already running at near capacity, and the number of patients is expected to increase as COVID-19 cases surge.
“Every hospital bed is in play and very important right now,” said Kosin. “So the idea that if this is going to result in people leaving, and is going to create bigger staffing holes — that is absolutely a problem.”
About 75% of Alaska nursing home workers are already vaccinated, higher than the national average, according to Kosin. Several large nursing home operators previously announced vaccine requirements, including Providence Health & Services Alaska and the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium.
Kosin said nursing homes around the state already have dozens of vacant positions after a year and a half of the pandemic, and some have already had to get rid of bed space due to low staffing.
In Juneau, Wildflower Court sent a letter to residents on Tuesday saying that staffing has been a challenge and because of that they’re not taking any new residents. They’re also closing a portion of their nursing home and moving residents into open rooms in other homes.
Hospitals and nursing homes typically train and plan for disaster treatment, but the pandemic has stretched on longer than workers were prepared for. Now, Kosin said, many workers are taking early retirement, switching careers, or returning to school.
“We’ve seen significant fatigue among the workforce, we’ve seen a lot of workforce exit the market,” he said.
Without Medicaid and Medicare funds, Kosin said, it’s unlikely that any nursing home could stay open.
The Biden administration hasn’t yet released additional details about the plan, including when it would take effect.
Rashah McChesney contributed to this report from Juneau.
This story has been updated.
