Nursing Homes to Rehabilitation Centers

The population of the United States is aging. Approximately 15,000 nursing homes/rehabilitation facilities now exist across the nation. An elder citizen has a one-in-four chance of spending at least some time in one of these facilities. Furthermore, anyone over twenty-one years old may find themselves in one when needing short-term rehabilitation after a serious medical occurrence.

Nursing homes represent billions of dollars in potential profits reimbursed by government and insurance programs, a fact that has attracted individual owners and investor-backed corporations eager for financial gain. This drive for earnings often leads to shorthanded and poorly trained staff, which negatively impacts patient care.

While many declare the nursing home system broken, the author believes it needs to be overhauled shifting the focus to quality of care rather than profit. To effect this change, government and insurance agencies need to restructure nursing facility reimbursement policies to develop a comprehensive system of quality long-term care services-a process that should begin as soon as possible.