Nearly half of Minnesota’s long-term care facilities are dealing with staffing shortages — the most of any other state in the nation, according to a new analysis from Seniorly.
The California-based online platform on Friday released data on the states that have been hit the hardest by the ongoing long-term care staffing shortage. Nationwide, about 25% of facilities have reported nursing staff shortages so far in 2022, which is an increase from 16% in 2020.
In Minnesota, an average of 41% of long-term care facilities are experiencing workforce shortages in 2022 — that’s an 18.4% increase from 2020 to 2022, the study said.
Minnesota officials and lawmakers have pushed for solutions to address the shortages in the state, including calling for a $1 billion investment to boost pay for long-term care and other direct care workers and establishing a training program to increase the number of certified nursing assistants in facilities.
Washington state, Maine, Kansas and Wyoming rounded out the top five states reporting the highest shares of long-term care facilities reporting staffing shortages with 37.9%, 37.7%, 36.1% and 35%, respectively.
States with the lowest shares of long-term care facilities reporting staffing shortages were California (2.1%), Connecticut (3.8%), Massachusetts (5.8%), New Jersey (6%) and Texas 6.6%).
California’s state minimum wage, which became effective in January, is $15 per hour this year for businesses with more than 26 workers, and $14 per hour for employers with 25 or fewer employees.
Nursing home workers in California, however, have pushed for the state to establish a nursing home CNA minimum wage that would reach $25 per hour over the next three years.
“Generally, most states have had periods of intense staffing shortages at long-term care facilities, both overall and for specific jobs, and 2022 is shaping up to be rough in many places across the country when it comes to finding qualified workers at nursing homes and assisted living communities,” wrote Stephen Anderson, Seniorly’s chief strategy officer.
Seniorly’s analysis used nursing home staffing data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, reflecting the May 2020 through February 2022 period.
Full analysis findings can be found here.
