Advertisement

Florida nursing homes have enough staff, numbers show. But the state has shortages in other areas.

 
Staffing levels at Florida nursing homes exceeded the national average and met or exceeded industry expectations, according to data released earlier this month. Meanwhile, the state is also seeing reported shortages in doctors and some hospital nursing staffs. [Times (1999)]
Staffing levels at Florida nursing homes exceeded the national average and met or exceeded industry expectations, according to data released earlier this month. Meanwhile, the state is also seeing reported shortages in doctors and some hospital nursing staffs. [Times (1999)]
Published July 17, 2018

In most places across America, nursing homes are facing an acute shortage of workers to take care of the country's growing population of aging and disabled patients. But not in Florida.

A Kaiser Family Foundation report published this month found that while most states struggle to employ enough nurses, Florida's staffing levels exceeded the national average and met or exceeded industry expectations. According to Kaiser, Florida reported an average of 4.55 in total nurse hours per resident per day, which is higher than the national average of 4.05. Only Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Utah averaged more hours than Florida.

"Florida's nursing homes continue to outpace our peer states in terms of performance and quality," said Justin Senior, secretary of Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration, which oversees licensing for nursing homes, assisted living facilities and Medicaid distribution, among other government health-related tasks.

"In recent weeks," he said, "the agency announced that Medicaid recipients are enjoying an increased quality of life and that Florida is a national leader in reducing the use of antipsychotic drugs in nursing homes."

Still, Florida faces shortages in other medical sectors. Nurses who work at five Florida hospitals owned by Hospital Corporation of America picketed last week to raise awareness about what they said were unsafe staffing ratios. The nurses demonstrated in front of Northside Hospital, St. Petersburg Hospital, Blake Medical Center in Bradenton and Doctor's Hospital of Sarasota.

At Northside Hospital in Pinellas County, 48 percent of registered nurses have worked there less than 18 months, according to a union representative. HCA is currently under contract negotiations with the union.

In December, the Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida identified another growing shortage: the number of doctors practicing in Florida is not keeping up with the state's surging population growth. More money is needed to recruit physicians and keep them here, hospital officials say, especially in the specialty areas of urology, thoracic surgery, nephrology and ophthalmology.

In addition to these speciality services, the alliance's report cited a "severe shortage" of primary care physicians in Southwest Florida, an area extending from Naples to Sarasota.

RELATED: Florida hospitals call for more funding in an effort to address looming doctor shortage

Earlier this month, a New York Times story highlighted data from the Kaiser Foundation that tracked how many hours various nursing home staffers would spend with an individual resident each day. It illuminated problems with staffing in many facilities across the country. Meanwhile in Florida, the ACHA has been busy this year implementing new rules for nursing homes regarding generator requirements after Hurricane Irma.

Keep up with Tampa Bay’s top headlines

Subscribe to our free DayStarter newsletter

We’ll deliver the latest news and information you need to know every morning.

You’re all signed up!

Want more of our free, weekly newsletters in your inbox? Let’s get started.

Explore all your options

The rules also would require operators to submit plans on how they would keep their facilities at or below 81 degrees in case of power loss after a declared state of emergency. Each nursing home should be able to cool a large enough space to give each resident 30 square feet of space, the rules state, and have 72 hours worth of fuel on site — with the ability to tap into another 24 hours' worth if an emergency is declared.

After national headlines and a public outcry over the deaths of 14 people at a Broward County nursing home after Hurricane Irma, nursing homes across the state are working to comply with new rules requiring them to have back-up power.

Contact Justine Griffin at jgriffin@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8467. Follow @SunBizGriffin.