LaShuan Bethea, executive director of the National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL), sat for an interview with Park Place Live during the annual American Health Care Association (AHCA)/NCAL conference happening this week in Las Vegas where more than 3,000 industry stakeholders are meeting. Here is a brief question and answer account of the discussion.

Park Place Live (PPL): AHCA/NCAL has seen record attendance here in Las Vegas, especially at NCAL Day, and you have mentioned NCAL is charting record high number of members. What is driving your sector’s expansion and interest?

LaShuan Bethea (LB): We have seen an increase in assisted living census and interest across the country. I think our membership is growing because they recognize the need for policymakers to understand assisted living and who we provide care for, and they also understand the implications of the need to get involved.

PPL: Are you monitoring the changes made in the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ that cuts some $1 trillion from Medicaid, even as skilled nursing scored a huge victory by gaining a ‘carve out’ from the cuts?

LB: While we saw a significant win not only for skilled nursing providers with the carve out, but for the entire long-term care continuum we need to prepare for states as a whole having to live with less in Medicaid funding. This could affect state waiver programs [the optional state programs seen currently in 43 states that allow low-income earners to have access to assisted living via Medicaid].  States may make some changes, like by placing caps to limit the number of individuals to be eligible for waivers. Again, this is one of the reasons we continue to encourage advocacy efforts.

PPL: What is the foremost challenge for assisted living owners and operators right now?

LB: What I am hearing as I travel and here at the conference is workforce is one of the things people are most concerned about. While we are excited about the staffing mandate win [for nursing facilities], we cannot look at the care continuum in a silo. Our long-term, care workforce is finite. In rural areas, you might have one RN, for example.

PPL: What can be done to help on workforce?

LB: We have created the Caregivers for Tomorrow initiative from AHCA/NCAL, which among other things is aimed at encouraging policymakers to help us create incentives to get people to come back to long-term care through student loan forgiveness, tax credits … it’s not just skilled nursing and assisted living, but we have seen numbers of workers stepping away from healthcare. Caregivers for Tomorrow [https://www.ahcancal.org/Advocacy/Pages/Caregivers-for-Tomorrow.aspx ] pushes for legislation that supports recruitment and retention, training, technology and innovation, and building the pipeline of workers.

Comments or questions? Contact Patrick Connole at pconnole@parkplacelive.com.