Hey HHS, your ageism is showing.
Sort of ironic, given that your department (especially your main nursing home regulatory agency) has been on a health equity tear of late.
A new program will pour millions of dollars into the relatively healthy pediatric healthcare workforce. Meanwhile, nursing homes caring for 1.4 million patients, most of them with geriatric concerns, are promised more rules, with no mention of such generous resources.
In a society that almost exclusively values youth over experience, childhood over seniorhood, the Pediatric Specialty Loan Repayment Program announced on Friday feels a bit like a slap in the face to seniors hit so hard by the pandemic and the caregivers who sustained so many.
The sector is still down about 190,000 jobs from its pre-pandemic levels, according to federal statistics. And nursing homes across the US are limiting access to care when they are understaffed.
Major advocates have clamored for a loan forgiveness program and other federal workforce initiatives that could help attract much-needed frontline staff back to the nation’s skilled nursing facilities.
In exchange for three years spent working in a “health professional shortage area, medically underserved area, or providing care to a medically underserved population,” the Pediatric Specialty Loan Repayment Program will give up to $100,000 to eligible clinicians providing pediatric medical subspecialty, pediatric surgical specialty, or child and adolescent behavioral healthcare.
Nursing homes would surely love to have that kind of fresh, $15 million investment to recruit and retain clinicians, nurses and other staff members who commit to providing healthcare to seniors and those with disabilities.
As a mother of three who lost her family doctor last year — and a child with a chronic health condition that requires the support of a team of specialists — I understand the urge to bolster the pediatric care sector.
Kids should be able to access life-changing and life-sustaining care where and when they need it. But should seniors have any less right to access that kind of care?
Ours is, after all, an aging nation. We’ll have more seniors than kids by 2035.
With the future demand for long-term care and current labor statistics staring HHS in the face, why would leaders there not also pursue a similar program for seniors?
Is it that the administration is so blinded by its bent on more heavily regulating the sector and wiping out “bad actors” that they can’t see all the good, well-intentioned workers who deliver quality care every day? Maybe they just can’t imagine that some of those good people need a little more incentive to take on physically and mentally demanding jobs that still pay too little thanks to government under-funding.
At the least, this all seems incredibly short-sighted to me. At the worst, its reflective of our society’s broader struggles with ageism.
Then again, maybe HHS will have another announcement coming for nursing homes, one loaded with enticements like these that stand to help caregivers and patients. If so, I’ll be more than happy to take back my condemnation.
