Reply
In Rhode Island, certified nursing assistants currently earn less than $15 per hour, on average. (Shutterstock)
PROVIDENCE, RI The Rhode Island General Assembly approved a bill that creates minimum staffing standards in the state s nursing homes. The legislation now heads to Gov. Dan McKee s desk to be signed into law.
The bill, sponsored by Senate Majority Whip Maryellen Goodwin and Rep. Scott Slater, was championed by Raise the Bar on Resident Care, an advocacy group focused on patient care.
The coronavirus pandemic exposed an ongoing staffing crisis in Rhode Island s long-term care facilities. Under the new law, facilities would be required to provide at least 3.58 hours of resident care per day, starting Jan. 1. The following year, that number will be raised to 3.81 hours per day.
Primary Content
Caption Nick Papadopoulos, a 43-year-old who has been in a Royston nursing home for four years, is featured in a new film about the wait list for services in Georgia. Credit: Photo courtesy of the film, 6,000 Waiting
The move into a nursing home in Royston was supposed to be temporary for Nick Papadopoulos, who was a 38-year-old living in Athens when an infected bedsore landed him in the rural northeast Georgia facility.
Four years have now passed, which brought a pandemic that was particularly ruthless inside long-term care facilities. Papadopoulos has fought off COVID-19, twice. When a friend visited, he watched from a safe distance as she handed a gift to a staffer, as if it were contraband.
WASHINGTON (AP) The Senate on Tuesday confirmed President Joe Biden’s pick to run U.S. health insurance programs, putting in place a key player who’ll carry out his strategy for expanding affordable coverage and reining in prescription drug costs. Obama-era policy adviser Chiquita Brooks-LaSure will be the first Black person to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, which also administers children’s health insurance and.
Reps. Jason Smith, R-Mo., and Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., introduced legislation this week to ensure Medicare enrollees have expanded access to telehealth. The COVID-19 pandemic required the U.S. healthcare system to innovate and embrace every viable method of healthcare delivery. For patients in rural areas back home in Missouri, none have been more beneficial than the expansion of audio-only telehealth, said Smith in a statement. This method of healthcare delivery should serve as a bridge to provide better care and remain a permanent option for patients who will not gain access to broadband and technology overnight, he continued.
WHY IT MATTERS