Shared Rooms Helped Fuel COVID-19 Deaths in Nursing Homes. Are a Million Private Rooms Possible?

Categories: In The News, National Media Items

Private rooms alone won’t remedy the nursing home system’s shortcomings. “The Green House model is a lot more than just the building,” says Alex Spanko. “It’s about the culture, too.”

For example, moving residents into private rooms without investing in communal spaces or activity programs or more staff that bring them out of those rooms could cause increased loneliness and social isolation, an issue nursing homes really struggled with during the pandemic.

“Private rooms are really just step one,” says Spanko. “There’s another 25 steps that also need to be done to get to where we really want to be.”

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  • “A small but growing group of nursing homes are already implementing these changes. Collectively called ‘household models,’ these nursing homes have generated enthusiasm among diverse stakeholders and long-term care experts. Because of its scale and consistency across homes, the Green House approach has been the most frequently studied household model.”

  • “Alternatives to traditional nursing homes for older adults who cannot remain in their own homes has prompted interest in smaller, community-style facilities such as the Green House model. Staff are used more flexibly in the Green House model, and work with small clusters of residents; the model’s success, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, has attracted interest as an alternative to traditional nursing homes.

  • “The Center for Innovation and its Green House Project is promoting government incentives that support construction of modern, person-directed facilities through targeted grants or Medicaid rate increases. Providers in Arkansas and soon Ohio, for instance, receive Medicaid rate add-ons for private room nursing care.”

  • “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.”