(Iowa Capital Dispatch) – Despite stiff industry opposition to the Biden administration’s proposed new mandates for nursing home staffing, federal data shows many facilities already meet the new standards. In April, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services published a new rule that over the next five years will establish additional requirements for staffing levels in nursing homes. As expected, the new rule touched off a firestorm of protests from industry officials who have claimed the requirements will drive care facilities into bankruptcy and from senior advocates who have asserted the new requirements are too weak to produce real change.

A recent analysis by KFF, formerly the Kaiser Family Foundation, shows that while only 19% of all nursing facilities nationwide currently meet all three of the rule’s new staffing minimums, almost 60% of the homes already meet the overall requirement of providing every resident with 3.48 hours of care each day. In Iowa, where care facilities are cited for insufficient staffing at a much higher rate than the national average, 54% of homes already meet the overall requirement of providing every resident with 3.48 hours of care each day.

The KFF analysis shows many Iowa homes currently meet the other new standards as well:

• 71% of the Iowa nursing homes now meet the requirement for .55 hours of care, per resident, per day, by a registered nurse.
• 39% of the Iowa homes now meet the requirement for 2.45 hours of care, per resident, per day, by a certified nurse aide.
• 32% of Iowa’s nursing homes meet all three of the new requirements – a significantly higher percentage than the national average of 19%.

The KFF study also shows that while only 11% of the nation’s for-profit facilities currently meet all requirements in the final rule, 41% of the nonprofit homes meet all of the standards – suggesting profit motives may be a factor in suppressing staffing levels. One finding in the study challenges the notion that rural facilities, which must draw from a smaller pool of available labor, will have a harder time meeting the new standards. The study shows that rural nursing homes are just as likely as urban facilities to meet the requirements – although the rule will give them much more time to come into compliance. In May, the Long-Term Care Community Coalition issued its own detailed report outlining the staffing levels at every Medicare-certified nursing home in the nation during the fourth quarter of 2023. The findings in that study are similar to those in the KFF report.

The coalition’s report indicated the Iowa homes with the lowest nurse staffing levels in the fourth quarter of 2023 were Arbor Springs of West Des Moines, Midlands Living Center of Council Bluffs, Linn Haven Rehab & Health Care of New Hampton, Pleasant Acres Care Center of Hull, Northbrook Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center of Cedar Rapids, Crest Haven Care Centre of Creston and Aspire of Perry. All of those homes reported less than 2.5 hours of total nursing care per resident, per day, according to the report.

A separate set of data published by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services indicates that 14% of Iowa’s nursing facilities were cited for insufficient staffing in fiscal year 2023. That’s more than double the national average, which was 5.9%. The new staffing rule is expected to be phased in over time. The first phase calls for staffing assessments that take into account the needs of each resident, and that takes effect today (Thursday).

The second phase will require homes to have a registered nurse on duty 24 hours per day, seven days a week, and will ultimately require homes to provide an overall total of 3.48 hours of care, per resident, per day. This phase will take effect at urban facilities in May 2026, and at rural facilities in May 2027. Homes will be able to apply for a “hardship exemption” from the 24/7 registered-nurse requirement.

The third phase, which will require nursing homes to deliver a minimum of .55 hours of care, per resident, per day, by a registered nurse, and 2.45 hours of care each day by a certified nurse aide, will take effect at urban facilities in May 2027, and at rural facilities in May 2029.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Red Oak Police, Wednesday evening, arrested 33-year-old Matthew Lee Golden, of Red Oak. Golden faces charges that include one-count each of Domestic Assault Abuse, Criminal Mischief in the 3rd Degree, and Obstruction of Emergency Communications. He was being held without bond in the Montgomery County Jail.

(Woodbury County, Iowa) – A collision in western Iowa between Kingsley and Moville, Wednesday afternoon, resulted in two people  transported to a hospital in Sioux City. According to the Iowa State Patrol, the accident happened at around 12:45-p.m., at the intersection of Highway 140 and 11th Street, in Woodbury County.

The Patrol says a 2007 Lexus SUV driven by 31-year-old Deiler Reyes Pena, of Storm Lake, was traveling east on 110th Street, when Pena failed to yield from the stop  sign. The SUV struck the left side of a northbound 2018 GMC pickup, driven by 42-year-old Corey Lias, of Sioux City.

A northbound 1999 Peterbilt semi driven by 72-year-old Steven French, of Moville, was traveling behind the pickup. The semi struck the left side of the Lexus.

Deiler Reyes Pena, and a passenger in the SUV, 29-year-old Yanisleydis Perez Hechavarria, of Storm Lake, suffered serious injuries in the crash and transported by ambulance to MercyOne Hospital in Sioux City.

(Radio Iowa) – State officials have agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by the parents of a teenager who died four years ago after University of Iowa Health Care staff misdiagnosed her symptoms as likely related to COVID. Seventeen-year-old Emma Nugent of Iowa City died of a pulmonary embolism. Her parents will be paid one-point-two million dollars to settle their lawsuit. A deputy attorney general said the state’s potential financial exposure could be substantial if the case was heard by a jury.

In the spring of 2020, the teenager had several in-person and tele-health appointments with University of Iowa Health Care doctors and nurses. She told them she was having chest pains and shortness of breath and was taking an oral contraceptive with a potential side effect of causing blood clots. None of the COVID tests she took showed she had the virus, but Nugent was repeatedly diagnosed with “suspected COVID.”

The State Appeal Board approved the settlement with Nugent’s parents yesterday (Wednesday). The Cedar Rapids Gazette has reported that the Nugent’s daughter collapsed and died in July of 2020 after trying on clothes for her senior pictures.

(Radio Iowa) – A Colorado-based company will soon begin testing in Carroll County as it searches for hydrogen trapped underground. Scientists say natural hydrogen could be a source of clean energy. Chris Justice, a representative of Twin Rivers Exploration, says a truck that’s a little smaller than a garbage truck is used for what they call “vibro-seismic” testing.

“It has a plate, maybe three feet in diameter. It gently lowers this plate to the ground and then it will shake and send kind of a vibration through the ground,” he says. “We place sensors along the road that will pick up the signals of how these vibrations bounce off of different geologic formations, which will pick up which will allow us to map out underground formations.”

Twin Rivers Exploration recently completed land surveys in Webster County and the company has mapped out a five-mile-square grid to survey, with the small Carroll County town of Lidderdale at its center. Scientists say when iron-rich rocks come into contact with water deep underground, hydrogen is generated, the hydrogen can get trapped under a dome. Justice describes the process of collecting it.

“The hydrogen should come out of the ground on its own. Hydrogen, being a gas, it should flow out freely,” Justice said. “What you’d be looking at is about a five foot tall wellhead that sits on about a five acre pad.” There’s only one well in the world currently collecting natural hydrogen from underground and it’s in Mali, a country on the west side of Africa. Drilling for hydrogen is underway in Europe, South America — and in Nebraska and Kansas. Justice says there would be a fairly large boost to the local economy if his company finds underground hydrogen in Carroll County.

“Depending on the quantity, we would probably it use it for ammonia to help make fertilizer. Hydrogen is a major component of ammonia that is right now created through very expensive means, so it would help the fertilizer industry quite a bit,” Justice says. “If we found it in greater quantities there could be applications in electricity and, in enormous quantities, even transportation.”

Justice says the company’s trucks should arrive in Carroll County around August 19th and crews should complete their work in the area by the end of the month. The trucks will move at a one-mile-per-hour pace and the company will have people redirecting traffic, if necessary.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Director the Atlantic Public Library, this (Wednesday) evening, informed the Atlantic City Council, about a national grant the library has received. Michelle Andersen said the grant is from the American Library Association (ALA), and is for small and rural libraries, to help them be more accessible. Atlantic’s Library received a grant last year, as well.

Atlantic was one of 310 libraries selected to participate in round two of the Libraries Transforming Communities initiative. Part of the conditions to receiving the grant, is to hold a Community Conversation about ways the library can better serve persons who may have trouble accessing services the library provides, either because they don’t understand technology, or they have learning issues.

Atlantic Public Library Director Michelle Andersen (8-7-24_)

Some of the ideas she suggested in order to get the grant, include beginning a “Next Chapter Book Club.”

Everyone is invited to visit the library to attend one of the conversations, which will be offered: Tuesday, Aug. 13^th at 2-p.m.; Wed., Aug. 14^th, at 10-a.m., and Thursday, Aug. 15^th, at Noon. If you are interested in getting involved or taking part in the conversation, and cannot attend one of the three meetings, please call Michelle Andersen at 712-243-5466, or email atlanticpubliclibrary@gmail.com

Atlantic City Council meeting, 8-7-24

In other business, the City Council in Atlantic, Wednesday evening took action on approving an Order to close certain streets in Atlantic on Saturday, Aug. 10th, for AtlanticFest. The list of streets can be found in our story posted Monday night on the kjan.com News page (See the list below if you missed it). The streets will be closed from 5-a.m. until 6-p.m.

The Council also passed a Resolution “Setting the date for a Public Hearing on a proposed Ordinance vacating the 66-foot wide street Right-Of-Way (ROW),” beginning west of the ROW line of Laurel Street extended, then west to the east property line of the Iowa Interstate Railroad (a parcel approx. .7″ of an acre). The request (Which was previously heard during the Council’s meeting on May 1st), was from property owner Rob Stamp, who wants to have additional access to his property by means of cutting the curb on the vacated area, pouring a driveway, and maintaining it as another entrance.

The Council also held and passed the 3rd and final reading of an Ordinance that rezones the Camblin Hills Subdivision from R-2 (Low Density/Single Family) residential to R-4 (Multifamily) residential. The first reading was passed during the Council’s meeting on July 10th.

In other business, the Council acted on an Order approving a bid from Tim Beadle, for 411 Birch Street, in the amount of $5,350. The City’s Personnel and Finance Committee has endorsed his bid. City Councilperson Elaine Otte said Beadle intends to demolish the house currently on the property, and build a new, modern home. The final order of business is action on a proposal to move the Sept. 18th City Council meeting to Sept. 16th, due to the Annual Iowa League of Cities Conference.

Street closures for AtlanticFest:

• Chestnut Street (both lanes), from 6th to 7th St.
• Chestnut (both lanes), from 2nd to 6th.
• 6th Street (Both lanes) from Walnut to Chestnut.
• 6th Street (Both lanes) from Chestnut to Poplar.
• 5th Street from Chestnut to 1/2 block east of the alley before the Post Office.
• 5th Street from Chestnut to Poplar.
• 4th Street from Chestnut to 1/2 block east, right before the alley.
• 4th Street from Chestnut to Poplar.
• 3rd Street from Walnut to Poplar.

Walnut Street will remain open.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa investors are watching carefully as the global stock markets begin to rebound, following Monday’s sweeping selloff. Financial planner Jim Tausz of Clarion says things are beginning to move more positively for Iowans who follow the stock market, though there are still some looming clouds.

“I think we’re going to have a lot of volatility between now and maybe a month or two at the most,” Tausz says, “before we end up having Election Day.” While there are concerns, Tausz says the market’s shifting can also be seen as an opportunity, though he notes the tech sector has been dramatically impacted.

“What you’re seeing is the reaction that we’re getting to inflation and interest rates right now, and also the comments that are being made by each side, I’m talking about Democrats and Republicans right now, which are very contradictive of each other,” Tausz says, “and so I think people are getting just a little bit frustrated.”

Tausz says investors need to monitor their portfolios, though he says the Dow Jones was in positive territory at midday (Wednesday).

(Radio Iowa) – The Federal Emergency Management Agency has announced it has so far approved $61 million in assistance for Iowans dealing with damage from this spring’s flooding, tornadoes and severe weather.

According to a news release from the agency, FEMA has approved assistance for more than 5000 Iowa households. That includes $56 million in Individual Assistance to cover home repairs and other expenses that are not covered by insurance. Renters and home owners in 28 Iowa counties that have been declared Presidential Disaster Areas are eligible to apply for FEMA’s Individual Assistance grants. The deadline for applications is Friday, August 23.

FEMA’s National Flood Insurance program has paid over $5 million to Iowa policyholders.