Hochul addresses nursing home closures
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Over a 10-year period, the Journal of the American Medical Association reported in July that a total of 1,440 nursing home closures were identified nationwide. In Chautauqua County, the rate is even quicker.
Since 2023, four facilities have ceased operations, which totaled about 240 beds. They include the WCA Home in Fredonia, Lutheran Social Services, Absolut of Westfield and the Heritage Ministries skilled nursing facility in Gerry, which announced its closing earlier this year.
During a visit to northern Chautauqua County last week with the construction of a new north county hospital in the background, Gov. Kathy Hochul addressed the issue of long-term care, citing cuts from Washington.
"A lot of them are losing money that they used to count on from the federal government," Hochul said. "Most of these people are on Medicaid and that reimbursement level is not enough to keep (nursing homes) going."
Rural areas, such as Chautauqua County, are being impacted greatly by the closings. In some cases, closures resulted in no nursing home within 10 miles, and for an additional 14.4% of closures, nearby facilities had insufficient capacity to absorb displaced residents, resulting in access shortages in nearly 29% of closures, JAMA reported.
Hochul said more needs to be done to keep the facilities from shutting down.
"The answer is not to let them close," she said. "The answer is to try to consolidate, to try to find systems like Kaleida that can step in and help them and know that this is a long-term problem."
Hochul also cited population declines and more rehabilitation cases that are happening in homes. Nonetheless, she said, nursing homes remain a key piece for compassion in the state.
"The whole model of nursing homes is not what it was 20 years ago, but it's still an important part of our health care network," she said.
Within recent months, nursing homes in Springville and Rochester announced closings.