In its editorial “Fast-track nursing home oversight,’’ The Boston Globe addressed the need for strict oversight of Massachusetts nursing home facilities. As an organization that has demonstrated a longstanding commitment to quality resident care and safety, the Massachusetts Senior Care Association applauds Public Health Commissioner Monica Bharel’s leadership in developing a plan to further improve quality nursing home care.  

While the vast majority of the state’s 400 nursing facilities provide excellent care every day to 40,000 frail elders who can no longer live safely at home, we have a special obligation to identify and improve resident care and safety in underperforming facilities.

Important to this work will be improving the ability to attract and retain qualified, dedicated workers. Unfortunately, the impact of years of MassHealth funding reductions has challenged our ability to pay staff a living wage. Seventy percent of nursing home residents rely on Medicaid to pay for their care. Over the past eight years, Medicaid reimbursement rates have decreased while the cost of care has increased. Consequently, most nursing facilities are running in the red, and we face a situation in which one in 10 certified nursing assistant jobs is open.

In order to provide the type of quality of care our residents deserve, we must support Commissioner Bharel’s efforts, but we also must increase wages and career opportunities to give workers incentives to stay.

Ned Morse, president

Massachusetts Senior Care Association, Waltham