As part of Argentum's ongoing "Don't Leave Assisted Living Behind, Again" campaign, this week we began circulating a petition that we will share with the Biden Administration, demonstrating the broad grassroots support for prioritizing relief and support to senior living providers.
The petition reads:
The nearly two million seniors and their one million caregivers who serve in senior living facilities have been left behind from nearly all federal COVID-19 relief to date and are in dire need of help. Providers have done everything in their power to keep these most vulnerable Americans safe—from procuring PPE and regular testing to achieving very high vaccination rates among residents and staff. As the administration prepares to release the next phase of provider relief funding, we implore you to prioritize senior living communities.
Approximately one in four older Americans who receive some form of assistance for activities of daily living (ADLs) choose to call senior living their home. And these facilities help seniors not only with their ADLs, but wholistically with their social determinants of health: nutrition, housing, monitoring medications, and social interaction. The seniors in these communities need to have assurances that help is on the way.
With your leadership, we can ensure that these seniors and their caregivers have what they need to continue keeping everyone safe. In that effort, we ask that you:
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- Target financial relief through the provider relief fund and a longer-term sustainability fund. The current round of funding includes administrative flexibility, including the ability to target bonus payments based on the amount of services that providers furnish to Medicare patients. We ask that as application data is reviewed to determine a methodology for the Phase 4 payments, the significant number of Medicare beneficiaries who receive direct care as residents of senior living facilities is factored this into the bonus payments intended for providers serving seniors. Further, we ask for your support of a sustainability fund that would ensure these providers are able to weather the financial challenges posed by COVID-19 and adequately prepare for the coming long-term care needs of our nation’s seniors.
- Investments in the Long-Term Care Workforce. Your administration’s proposed investments of $400 billion in care infrastructure are critical to meeting the growing demands in caring for our rapidly aging population. Specific investments should include development of the workforce, such as those proposed in the forthcoming SENIOR Act.
- Direct resources to combat COVID-19. Providers are in critical need of support for the administration of vaccines and boosters, particularly without the pharmacy partnership program, due to logistical limitations of facilities and their largely non-ambulatory population. Additional support is also needed for ongoing testing to mitigate the spread of the virus, as previous federal and state support programs cease.
America’s senior living facilities—comprising assisted living, memory/dementia care, independent living, and Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs)—offer choice, dignity, security, and comfort for nearly two million of our most vulnerable citizens. But having weathered the COVID-19 pandemic for more than a year and a half with little federal relief, providers simply cannot afford to wait much longer. We need to do everything possible to ensure these providers have the support and resources to continue meeting these unprecedented challenges.
