Contact: Sammy McDavid
An in-depth study of Mississippi's long-term care industry predicts that planning for the state's rapidly growing elderly population soon will become a critical public policy issue.
Released this week, the study was completed by a research team organized by Mississippi State's John C. Stennis Institute of Government. The investigators included university economist Charles Campbell, assistant professor of real estate Bill Hardin, Stennis research analyst Judith Phillips, and institute executive director Marty Wiseman.
The 80-page report describes the public policy environment in which the state's long-term health-care industry operates and the significant statutory regulations now in place to monitor the quality of care in the nursing home industry. In its conclusion, the study recommends an expansion in the state's monitoring of poorly performing facilities and an imposition of swift sanctions in cases where inadequate care is identified.
"The socio-demographic characteristics of Mississippi's elderly population have significant implications for our long-term care infrastructure," Wiseman said. "That's because the latest United States Census Bureau figures show Mississippi with the largest elderly population living in poverty."
Phillips, the Stennis analyst, said direct effects of poverty on Mississippi's current aging population include:
--An increased risk of illness and disability,
--A tendency to delay nursing home entry to an age later than the rest of the nation, and
--A nursing home population likely "more frail and in need of greater care" than many other states.
"More research will be required to accurately determine the unique health-care needs of our elderly citizens," Phillips added.
Because costs within the long-term care industry are escalating rapidly and eroding the viability of the industry, care facilities face "a significant and immediate threat" from increased lawsuits, the researchers observed.
"The highly litigious environment has increased the expected magnitude of loss and high growth in the number of claims against nursing home operators," they wrote. As a result, many insurance carriers have withdrawn from the long-term care market.
For that reason, the MSU team recommends that "existing statutory regulations be more stringently enforced and reform measures enacted to the tort system to assure quality care for each (nursing home) resident."
For additional information on the study, telephone Wiseman or Phillips at (662) 325-3328.