June 21, 2022 – It’s no wonder that many people call the current staffing situation in long-term care a crisis. Nursing homes lost 220,000 jobs – 40% – from March 2020 to October 2021, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Compare that to hospitals, which experienced a 1.6% loss during the same period, and home health, which experienced a 1.2% loss.
“I’ve been in this industry for nearly a decade and this is by far the biggest issue facing long-term-care,” says Guy Cunningham, vice president of sales for Clock Medical Supply. “Facilities that never used agency for staff are having to do so while being forced to pay higher wages for directly hired employees. Additionally, staffing agencies are now having difficulty finding willing participants, which is adding further stress on our market.”