Workforce Crisis Hits San Angelo Nursing Homes

AUSTIN, TX — (Press Release) A statewide workforce crisis affects the ability of San Angelo nursing homes to maintain quality and provide much needed care to the most vulnerable seniors in the area.

Certified Nurse Aides working in the 16 nursing homes in and around San Angelo are part of a 97 percent average annual staff turnover rate for the state of Texas. Registered nurses and licensed vocational nurses each have an average 90 percent turnover rate, according to a report released by the Texas Health Care Association detailing the challenges with recruitment and retention of direct care staff in Texas.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Health Workforce, West Texas will need another 5,162 nurses just to keep up with the expanded demand by 2030 as Texas is projected to experience a widespread shortage of RNs. There are currently 1,569 people working in nursing homes in Tom Green and the surrounding counties. 

“The state’s low nursing home Medicaid reimbursement rate and heavy regulation are affecting the ability to retain nursing staff as they look for other opportunities out of the long term care business,” said Kevin Warren, president and CEO of the Texas Health Care Association. “All too often, long term care providers in San Angelo or Brady or the rest of Texas are scrambling to fill shifts instead of focusing on continuous improvement because they can’t compete in the labor market.”

San Angelo’s strong economy is partly to blame for the nursing home workforce crisis, Warren said.  The unemployment rate in San Angelo has hovered at about 3.4 percent in recent months, according to the Texas Workforce Commission.

Texas nursing homes are challenged with one of the lowest nursing home Medicaid reimbursement rates in the nation. In fact, the state’s Medicaid rate falls almost $10,000 short of the cost of care on an annual basis per Medicaid resident. More than two-thirds of all residents in Texas nursing homes rely on Medicaid to cover their costs after depleting their assets. For a typical long term care facility with 100 beds, these numbers can equal a shortfall of more than $650,000 a year they need to make up somewhere else.

It also leaves nursing home operators unable to raise wages to hire and retain staff, who can quit and easily find another job with higher pay or less stress, in other service industries or healthcare sectors. 

“This data simply supports what anyone involved in long term care already knows — staffing is the key to delivering the kind of long term care you would want for your own family,” said Warren. “The more consistent and dedicated the staff is, the more they understand and are able to effectively respond to each individual’s care needs. Having the necessary resources to compete in a highly competitive workforce that is already in short supply is critical to meeting the needs of all individuals relying on the nursing home community in Texas.”