Heather Lewis, CHCC’s director of nursing, recently was invited to a meeting with Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, to discuss ongoing issues in the field of long-term care.
CMS administers the U.S. Medicare and Medicaid programs, among others, and has oversight over long-term care centers throughout the country.
Lewis was asked by LeadingAge Washington to speak on behalf of long-term care providers, focusing on staffing challenges that have forced skilled nursing facilities like CHCC to limit admissions. LeadingAge Washington is an advocacy group representing not-for-profit and mission-driven senior care and housing organizations in the state.
“I felt honored to be asked to meet with Administrator Brooks-LaSure,” said Lewis, who was one of two long-term care representatives at the meeting. “It was a privilege to be a voice for long-term care in Washington state. I believe they had their eyes opened when they heard what we are going through.”
CHCC has had to turn away numerous rehabilitation patients and long-term care residents because of a lack of staff, Lewis told Brooks-LaSure and the other CMS representatives at the meeting. In addition, she told them, long-term care staffing issues are made even worse by monetary fines and related sanctions levied by CMS.
Other attendees at the meeting, which was held Aug. 9 at the CMS offices in Seattle, included representatives from the Washington Health Care Association, LeadingAge Washington and local hospitals, including Harborview Medical Center. They shared concerns with Brooks-LaSure about the ongoing backup of patients in hospitals and the difficulty they’ve been having discharging them to long-term care centers.
After the meeting, a WSHA representative reached out to Lewis and other participants about reconvening the group at a later date to continue discussing support for long-term care facilities in the state.
In July, Lewis raised many of these same concerns with Jilma Meneses, the secretary of the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services. Meneses then asked Lewis to share her presentation in the form of a letter that could be used by DSHS to gain support for long-term care funding, among other things.
CHCC residents and staff benefit from having such an experienced nurse and industry advocate as part of our care team. Thank you for serving in this way, Heather, and thank you for your continued efforts to bring about change in the industry.