The crisis in skilled nursing care
Finding beds for patients who need skilled nursing care has long been a problem for Rochester hospitals. Since COVID, that problem has reached crisis proportions.
Known in hospital jargon as ALC patients, short for alternative level of care, the average number of such patients occupying beds at Strong Memorial Hospital, the region’s largest acute-care facility, has soared. It has increased from 11 at the end of Strong’s fiscal year in 2018 to 94 as of July 3, 2024.
Strong and Highland hospitals are part of the University of Rochester Medical Center’s UR Medicine system, the region’s largest health care system.
For the URMC hospitals and for Strong and Highland in particular, “COVID broke the bank,” says Kathy Parrinello, Strong and Highland president and CEO.
Read the full story from Rochester Beacon here.
