The National Investment Center posted its next round of WAVE survey results, centered mostly on workforce recruitment and retention challenges. The majority of providers reported their staffing crisis as severe (27%) or moderate (67%,) with 100% paying overtime wages and 75% relying on temp/ agency staff to backfill vacancies, a slight decline from the last survey. Most staffing shortages were attributed to an inability to fill nursing aide positions (54%,) wage competition (44%,) and inability to hire nurses (33%.) A list of strategies found to be particularly effective in hiring nursing staff is found in the report. Twenty-five percent of providers reported that over 20% of their full time positions were vacant; holding on to new recruits over time also proved challenging, with 46% of providers saying they retained at least 80% of new hires after the first month, but that same number dropped to 17% of providers after the first year. The vast majority (90%) of providers reported that rising operating expenses are a great challenge, with 60% stating that their expenses had increased between 10-14% during the pandemic. Technology and telehealth remained high on the list of solutions to communications challenges, and the pace of move-ins continued to track closely with the COVID infection rates across the U.S.
