Ohio State Ombudsman, Beverley Laubert, is Interviewed on Medical Funding and Impact of Staffing in Nursing Homes

July 12, 2021

Beverley Laubert, Ohio State Long-Term Care Ombudsman, was interviewed by The Columbus Dispatch regarding Medicaid funding, nursing home reimbursement rates, and funding for nursing home staff. Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Medicaid cost gap widened and the need for financial resources in reimbursement rates and staffing wages increased drastically. Laubert said that due to the initial low wages, many of the nurse aids must juggle moving from facility to facility to earn a substantial amount of income, but at the price of resident’s care. Laubert receives many complaints which usually arise from the understaffing as a result. She believes the use of money should be used to increase the better quality of work life to retain staff on all fronts for success. As a plan to better the situation, Laubert states that the Ombudsman program has focused on spending more money to train nurse aides and more money in hourly rates to increase the turnover rate in staff for long term care facilities.

Read the full article here.