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Families Forced to Search
as Nursing Homes Fill Up
Newsday
May 1, 2005
With the number of nursing home beds dwindling in the state, many Connecticut families are having a difficult time finding a place that will care for their elderly or disabled relatives.
Unless more beds are made available, the problem is only expected to get worse. U.S. Census Bureau figures estimated a 46 percent increase in the elderly population between 2000 and 2025.
Since 1995, 33 nursing homes with 2,800 beds have closed in Connecticut, with health care professionals blaming rising care costs and inadequate Medicaid reimbursement rates.
There are now 247 chronic-care and convalescent nursing homes left in the state, and they are filled to 94 percent capacity. There are 29,800 beds in the those homes, and 28,000 of them were occupied as of February, according to the latest data from the state Social Services Department.
Jane Hackett, 84, of Hamden, is in the early stages of Parkinson's disease and relies on 24-hour home care for help with everyday tasks. Her family has been searching for a nursing home for her for two years.
The search for an open bed has become like a second job for Hackett's nephew, Dan Hackett, of Madison. He said "frustration" is the best word to describe his experience with the long-term health care system in Connecticut.
"It's a constant worry that doesn't go away," he told the New Haven Register.
Jane Hackett's name in on waiting lists at several nursing homes in her area, but priority is being given to short-term patients who have been injured or have an immediate need because of severe illness.
State lawmakers played a role in the nursing home shortage. In 1994, they placed a moratorium on new nursing homes as part of a plan to wean the state from depending on just one option for long-term care. They hoped the moratorium, which expires in 2007, would encourage development of more assisted-living centers and home-care programs.
More than 100 assisted-living centers have been built in the state since the moratorium, but they can be a more costly option. Health care executives say the state will need more nursing homes in the near future.
"There is a tidal wave of elderly getting ready to hit the nursing home system in the next couple of years," said Toni Fatone, spokeswoman for the Connecticut Association of Health Care Facilities. "The system is not prepared."
Some state officials said the problem has more to do with "growing pains" as the state moves away from dependence on nursing homes.
"The system has a way of self-adjusting," said Michael A. Starkowski, deputy commissioner of the state Department of Social Services. "Owners and providers will come up with new alternatives."
Teresa A. Cusano, the state's long-term care ombudsman, said the state needs to look at a variety of long-term care options. But she said more nursing homes will be needed to handle demand.
State officials are trying to help nursing homes with their financial problems. Gov. M. Jodi Rell and the legislature are proposing to break the state's constitutional spending cap to funnel millions more dollars to nursing homes and private, nonprofit agencies.
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