Russ McDaid

This past Monday, Penn State's chapter of ACHCA was pleased to welcome Mr. Russ McDaid to our meeting. Mr. McDaid is the former President and CEO of the Pennsylvania Healthcare Association and came to discuss Long-Term Care in Pennsylvania.

During his presentation, Mr. McDaid talked about the landscape of Long-Term Care in our state. We learned a lot of valuable information, such as the demographics in nursing homes, and how there are five different licensure in the field as of today. He made sure to let us know that there are a lot of job openings in the post-acute sector and that a lot of these jobs are right here in Pennsylvania. He joked that our state "outsources a lot of bright young minds," and that we need to start keeping them here.

On top of that, Mr. McDaid talked to us about some of the struggles that come along with working in a Long-Term Care facility. He warned us about how the media only likes to create bad press around nursing facilities, how there is a lack of funding, and how large Long-Term Care institutions are often targeted for lawsuits. A study that he showed in his presentation demonstrated that there was no correlation between quality of care and lawsuits and that people will take any small infraction to court if it means they will make money. Another challenge in Long-Term Care is that there is a lack of staffing. He told us that it is hard to retain employees with low Medicaid reimbursement and on top of that, a lot of people leave because the work is stressful.

Overall, he left us with a positive outlook for our futures in Long-Term Care. With the facts that almost 70% of people turning 65 will need Long-Term Care at some point, and over 50% of them will need round the clock care, this field is not going away anytime soon. There will be a lot of innovations and changes in the coming years, and many of us will be a part of those changes. Mr. McDaid left us with cautious determination for our futures as Nursing Home Administrators.