Federal financial relief may be coming to assisted living and memory care providers, but will it be enough?
The folks at ASHA, Argentum and NCAL have been working overtime to obtain some federal financial relief for their private pay members to deal with the burdens associated with COVID-19.
It’s supposed to be coming soon, but will it be enough? For now, the formula will be based on how it worked for Medicaid providers, which is 2% of 2019 revenues. For an 80-unit assisted living/memory care community with an average $5,000 monthly rate, that might come in at close to $80,000. If you have 50 communities, that is $4 million. Now we’re talking. For a more modest community with 50 units in Alabama, it would be closer to $40,000.
This will hardly be the difference between making it or not through the pandemic, but it is extra cash. And, it is less than what the associations have been fighting for, which also included flat per-community payments.
We hear from providers that pandemic costs are declining, but so is occupancy. One cost that should be covered separately, and is in the national interest to do so, is on-sight testing. Paying for testing should not be a financial burden for providers, and testing should be done constantly, especially for staff.
We hear that the new saliva-based testing, which is relatively cheap, shows promise (thanks Deborah). The NBA liked it, so if they don’t want to play in their bubble, maybe they can donate their extra tests to Florida senior living providers. And there is a nice bridge in Brooklyn I can sell you.
