By Mackenna Moralez, Associate Editor

The new Democratic Vice-President select Tim Walz has signaled hope for senior care facilities across the country.  

As governor of Minnesota, Walz has reportedly been a long-time champion for seniors, working with legislators to provide more funding for nursing homes. In 2023, the Governor secured $173 million in funding for 340 nursing homes across Minnesota. Each facility with more than 24,000 active beds received $225,000 plus an additional $4,000 for each active bed they operate. The facilities were advised to spend the money on costs such as debt restructuring, rent or debt payments, closing lines of credit and physical improvements and maintenance.  

Along with this, Governor Walz signed over $1 billion to support senior care facilities – the largest amount of funding ever received for senior care in the state. Additional investments included a loan program for distressed nursing homes, a temporary rate add-on, a rate adjustment for critical access nursing facilities and a workforce incentive grant program.  

“This session, we worked across the aisle to prioritize the needs of middle-class families and seniors. We’re providing direct support to nursing homes across the state to ensure Minnesota’s seniors have the quality care and safe environments they deserve,” says Governor Walz in a press release. “By funding nursing homes and investing in workforce incentives, we’re working to ensure our seniors have access to high-quality care while bringing new workers into this critical profession and building the workforce of the future.” 

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In 2021, Governor Walz also called on the National Guard to aid in nursing homes that faced severe staff shortages. After the deployment, he announced a new initiative aimed to recruit, train and deploy 1,000 new CNAs that would work in long-term care facilities hurt from the labor shortage, Skilled Nursing News reports. 

During his tenure, Walz signed a bill that established minimum staffing and training requirements for assisted living and created an assisted living licensure law, Skilled Nursing News reports.  

Meanwhile, Republican Vice President hopeful Senator J.D. Vance introduced the Continuous Skilled Nursing Quality Improvement Act earlier this year, McKnight Senior Living reports. The legislation would redefine “private duty nursing services” as “continuous skilled nursing services,” remove outdated provider red tape, and mandate that the Secretary of Health and Human Services convene a working group to establish national quality standards of care.  

“Federal regulations are preventing Ohioans with disabilities and complex medical conditions from receiving the specialized, in-home nursing care they need,” says Senator Vance in a press release. “This bipartisan legislation will prevent our laws from standing in the way of these lifesaving services.” 

Senator Vance was elected to senate in 2023, making his tributes to senior care limited. See what he has to say about the labor shortage in senior care facilities in the video by Forbes earlier this year below:  

Mackenna Moralez is the associate editor for the facilities market.