Inside Successfully Obtaining Loans for Nursing Home Projects Amid Harsh Financing Environment

“Some suggestions included increasing state investment in home care, incentivizing a transition toward fewer-occupant rooms and Green House-style facilities, standardizing the Medicaid reimbursement system with data-based adjustments over time, increasing audits and financial transparency requirements for nursing homes, and building workforce pipelines into the sector through scholarships and more flexible training programs.”

Based on a model designed by the Green House Project, which is dedicated to creating alternative living environments to traditional nursing home care facilities, Chelsea Jewish has condominium-style Green Houses … “All of our homes already operate at [staffing] ratios that are equal to or greater than the minimum required.”

In the long term, nursing homes may need to explore entirely new models of care, Brown assistant professor Elizabeth White added, pointing to the Green House model, which establishes smaller scale facilities and emphasizes self-sufficiency and community, as an example. “There’s work around really innovative solutions out there.”

“She calls it the Einstein option, and includes in her standards for innovation commitments to person-directed care, especially training; small home models; alternative payment policies; and development of a stronger direct care workforce. Even a $600 million investment to kick off such catalytic change, she said, would cost just one-tenth of 1% of SNF spending over the next three years.”