TUE AM News: Forward Analytics report predicts staffing challenges in senior care industry; Maternal health monitoring program expanding through research project

October 1, 2024

— Wisconsin nursing homes and assisted living facilities would need to add 33,000 new beds in just seven years to maintain the state’s current ratio of beds to elderly residents, according to a Forward Analytics report.

This research arm of the Wisconsin Counties Association yesterday released a report called “On the Brink: Probing the Coming Senior Care Challenges.” It comes as the state’s population of residents aged 75 years and older is set to increase 41% to 574,000 by 2030, putting significant strain on Wisconsin’s senior care industry.

“Creating sufficient infrastructure is one challenge, but it may be even more difficult to staff these facilities given Wisconsin’s worker shortage,” report authors wrote. “If care ratios remain unchanged, these facilities would need an additional 9,900 registered nurses, CNAs, and home health/personal care aides by 2030.”

While the report highlights future challenges driven by demographic trends, it also details how the industry has changed between 2000 and 2020. Over that period, the number of beds in senior care facilities rose at a “similar rate” to the population of those 75 and older, remaining around 194 total beds per 1,000 elderly residents.

But at the same time, a decline in nursing home beds has been balanced out by an increase in assisted living beds. While the number of licensed nursing home beds fell from 43,551 to 28,133 over those two decades, the number of assisted living beds rose from 67,248 to 79,002. Report authors point to limited Medicaid nursing home funding and increased family care funding as one factor driving that shift.

Wisconsin would need about 111,000 total beds in 2030 to maintain the current ratio of beds to elderly residents, an increase of more than 42% from the 78,000 licensed beds in 2023, the report shows. But the elderly population is projected to continue growing in the following decade, pushing up the projected need for beds to nearly 138,000 in 2040 — a 76% increase over the number from 2023.

“If this projection plays out, the state would need to license and staff a combined 59,500 new beds over the next 17 years,” report authors wrote.

The total number of registered nurses, aides and certified nursing assistants in the state is projected to increase by 12,800 between 2022 and 2030, exceeding the expected need of 9,900 workers in these professions for that timeframe. But due to the continuing growth in the elderly population, the state is expected to need another 10,000 workers in these positions by 2040, the report shows.

“Given the state’s current demographics, the state’s workforce is likely to decline, or at best remain stagnant, during those years, making it difficult to achieve that number,” authors wrote.

See the report and release.

— A maternal health monitoring program at UW Health and UnityPoint Health – Meriter is being expanded through a research project led by the UW-Madison Prevention Research Center.

Through the Staying Healthy After Childbirth, or STAC program, qualifying patients with high blood pressure during pregnancy or after childbirth are monitored at home with a blood pressure monitor. Readings are used to inform decisions about prescribing and adjusting medications to lower blood pressure.

The program is led by Dr. Kara Hoppe, a UW Health maternal-fetal medicine specialist and associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health.

“Hypertension, or high blood pressure, can lead to preterm births and preeclampsia, a high-blood pressure condition that threatens the lives of mothers and babies,” she said in today’s release. “Severe hypertension after delivery can also lead to stroke. Now, we can identify the problem sooner and treat patients to keep them healthy.”

This fall, the Prevention Research Center will focus on the STAC program as a core research project, aimed at boosting access to remote pregnancy support and blood pressure care from non-hospital sources such as doula groups and public health agencies.

Jill Denson, the center’s director, notes Black women in Wisconsin have maternal mortality rates up to four times higher than non-Black women. She says the STAC program could help address this disparity, offering “culturally adaptive” outreach and intervention to Black communities in the state.

“We are expanding to partner with community advisory boards, community-based organizations, health care organizations and state programs so they can adapt, refine and implement STAC, and we can share our findings to inform communities, policy and future research,” Denson said in the release.

Since the STAC program became standard practice at Meriter in 2019, the hospital has provided care for more than 7,000 postpartum patients in the program that delivered their babies there.

See more in the release.

Top headlines from the Health Care Report…

— Alexis McGill Johnson, the president of Planned Parenthood, will be in Wisconsin campaigning this week for Vice President Kamala Harris as the Harris campaign continues its bus tour focused on abortion rights.

For more of the most relevant health care news, reports on groundbreaking research in Wisconsin, links to top stories and more, sign up today for the free daily Health Care Report from WisPolitics and WisBusiness.com.

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— Farmers in the state are feeling the strain of high input costs and large debt loads amid a “very challenging” farm economy.

That’s according to Jason Mugnaini, executive director of government relations at the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation. Speaking yesterday during an interview with WisconsinEye focused on rural issues important to voters, he said WFBF is hearing from farmers that inflation is a big challenge.

“Farm input costs are up about 30% over the year’s average,” Mugnaini said. “If you ask a farmer how the price of corn is, they’re going to say bad, and if you ask them how soybeans are, they’re going to say worse.”

He said access to health care, child care and infrastructure are all important for rural farmers in the state, adding the mental health of these Wisconsinites is suffering.

“A lot of our multi-generational farmers are sitting there saying, ‘Well, Grandpa kept the farm alive, Dad kept the farm alive, and now it’s up to me to keep that multi-generational farm alive,’” he said. “And they’re looking at the debt load, they’re looking at the financial stress that they have in this economy, and it’s an incredible load of stress.”

The last state budget increased some of the vouchers through DATCP’s Wisconsin Farm Center, which offers a helpline, counseling services and more, Mugnaini said. But he argued “there’s going to need to be more services” such as telehealth options to address farmers’ mental health challenges.

“We’re working on trying to figure out a pathway forward, so those mental health services can meet farmers where they are,” he said.

Watch the video.

— The Weinbrenner Shoe Company has broken ground on a $14.5 million manufacturing facility in Marshfield, slated for completion later next year.

The 70,000-square-foot project is being built by Stevens Point-based Ellis Construction in the Mill Creek Business Park. It’s expected to add 35 jobs to the shoe manufacturer’s current 120-person workforce.

Both companies have a long history in the state. Weinbrenner Shoe Company, founded in 1892, is one of the oldest shoe companies manufacturing products domestically, according to yesterday’s release on the groundbreaking. Meanwhile, Ellis Construction has been operating in central Wisconsin for more than 90 years.

“With a similar long-standing history in central Wisconsin, we know that this building will be a lasting landmark for generations to come,” said Andrew Halverson, executive vice president of Ellis Construction.

See more project details in the release.

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