nursing homes

Hundreds of thousands of gallons of crude oil spilled out of the Keystone Pipeline in north-central Kansas, and cleaning it up will be especially difficult. Plus: Kansas nursing homes are facing allegations of neglect, even after receiving rewards for more thoughtful care.

A Kansas program that awards nursing homes millions of dollars for providing thoughtful care doesn’t weed out those with a history of deficiencies. Critics say it’s just one way the state fails to adequately regulate the long-term care industry.

Missourians voted last week to require Kansas City to spend even more money on its police department, though most Kansas City residents were against it. But the results still left local advocates optimistic about the future. Plus: Kansas nursing homes are struggling to stay staffed and open.

A shortage of health care workers in Kansas has created a crisis at nursing homes, which are closing even as the state’s population continues to age.

Under the bill, facilities can still limit things like visitor movements and the number of visitors per patient, but cannot require patients be vaccinated against any disease to receive treatment or visitors. Experts warn it could cause a conflict between state and federal requirements.

Missouri ranks 50th in the nation in hours of care nursing home residents receive from workers each day. Advocates for nursing home residents say the Biden administration's plans to call for increased staffing could help residents.

The problem of inadequate staffing at nursing homes predates the pandemic, and it’s gotten worse.

After residents of Nevada, Missouri — a city of nearly 8,300 people near the Kansas border — learned that Barone Alzheimer's Care Center would be closing due to financial hardship, they started organizing in protest.

Just 57% of Missouri nursing home staff are vaccinated as of Thursday. Long-term care facility trade groups have warned of an exodus of staff if vaccines are mandated, but some nursing homes that instituted mandates haven’t seen that happen.

A federal mandate will soon require all U.S. nursing homes to vaccinate their workers or risk losing government funding. But some worry vaccine mandates will worsen staff shortages.

On average, about 62% of Johnson County employees who work in federally-licensed nursing homes and long-term care facilities are vaccinated.

Advocates for nursing home residents and union representatives say President Joe Biden's order that nursing homes require employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine will help keep the coronavirus from spreading.