02/06/2026

PALTC News - February 4

Agency Use Plummets, but Skilled Nursing Sector Still Down 26,500 Key Workers Post-COVID

McKnight's Long-Term Care News
While nursing homes added nearly 41,000 jobs last year, they still remain the only healthcare sector not to have fully recovered from pandemic-era worker losses. Even as they've significantly reduced reliance on agency nurses and reduced turnover, providers now have 26,500, or 1.7%, fewer workers today than they did when COVID hit the United States in 2020. Read more.

Assisted living executives, managers see modest salary increases

McKnight's Senior Living
Assisted living CEOs/presidents earned a 3.75% salary increase over 2024, while assisted living administrators saw a 2.47% increase, according to the 2025-2026 Assisted Living Salary & Benefits Report published by Hospital & Healthcare Compensation Services. Read more.

CMS: Costs of Older Adults, People With Disabilities Make Up Half of Medicaid Spending

McKnight's Home Care
According to a new CMS data brief, Medicaid enrollment for adults 65 and older accounted for 10.2% of total enrollment in 2023, or about 9.6 million people. Meanwhile, enrollment for people with disabilities that year was 9.9% of the total, or 9.3 million people. Total expenditures for those two groups accounted for $444 billion — about half of the total Medicaid spending of $877.2 billion in 2023. Read more.