November 14, 2022

Contact: Rebecca Reid
(410) 212-3843

Focused Post Acute Care Partners
Celebrates National Rural Health Day on November 17

Skilled Nursing Provider Says Emphasis on Rural Health in Long Term Care Must be a Priority for Policymakers, Payers and Local Communities

(Fort Worth, Texas) – Focused Post Acute Care Partners CEO Mark McKenzie has been vocal about the challenges facing rural health care, in particular skilled nursing care, and is calling attention to the commemorative day coming up – National Rural Health Day on November 17th – to continue the conversation about the state of rural health care in Texas.

“When rural health care receives attention, it is typically about rural hospitals – a critically important service for rural communities,” said McKenzie. “But rural health care extends far beyond acute care into long term skilled nursing care and rehab. Our rural communities in Texas face challenges today that continue to evolve from pre-pandemic, through the height of the pandemic and into the world we now find ourselves in. We need to preserve long term care access for our seniors and maintain and continue to build a robust workforce – neither of which will happen just by wishing it so. This requires action.”

In a guest commentary recently published in McKnight’s Long Term Care News, McKenzie noted, “Rural long term care should not be ignored or take a backseat to other rural health care settings. This sector is just as critical as hospitals and emergent care settings but is not considered with the same focus or intention by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). We care for the vulnerable and in many cases provide the last home they have. Rural seniors and the providers who care for them require targeted policies that acknowledge resources needed in other rural settings are also needed in long term care. Recognizing skilled nursing care equally to other rural health care settings is fair and the right thing to do.”

Focused Care owns and operates 30 skilled nursing communities throughout Texas –many of them in rural towns. McKenzie says when he began to develop the business model for Focused Care, he intentionally looked to acquire rural nursing homes with the goal of making capital improvements, installing the latest healthcare technologies and implementing state-of-the-art care strategies to bridge the urban vs. rural gap in quality long term care.

Speaking on a Skilled Nursing News podcast recently, McKenzie said, “I think the big challenge for us in the rural market as we look at it going forward is from a staffing standpoint and from our ability to operate and bring the systems into the rural communities that our urban communities enjoy much more abundantly or much more readily.”

McKenzie describes a shift in workforce paradigm that requires skilled nursing providers to meet nurses, nurse aides and administrators where they are with respect to work-life balance, shift lengths and times as well as pay – the latter of which is largely dictated by the state’s Medicaid rate and the Medicare rate set by the federal agency CMS. He said Focused Care is rolling out a new scheduling system in 7 of its skilled nursing communities that mirrors an independent agency model that allows for greater flexibility.

“We’ve seen a greater satisfaction in our team members, we’ve incrementally seen better shift coverages,” he noted. “But there is no single action that will help rural skilled nursing communities lure staff to smaller towns and consistently deliver a high level of quality, compassionate care to seniors, adds McKenzie. “The majority of skilled nursing residents are Medicaid beneficiaries – not just in rural towns – but across Texas. Until our stakeholders gather in unison to support a Medicaid rate that pays for the actual cost of care for our seniors, our rural communities are at a disadvantage.

National Rural Health Day is every day for the millions of citizens living in rural communities across our country. We celebrate the providers, healthcare professionals, and community leaders who keep our rural communities thriving and we encourage public officials to give emphasis to the well-being of our Texas rural economies and the people who keep them strong.”

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About Focused Post-Acute Care Partners:
FPACP is a Texas-based skilled nursing care company with 30 communities located largely in rural and small towns throughout the state. FPACP’s mission is to invest in communities typically with fewer resources than metropolitan areas by providing state-of-the-art long term care services while instilling the expectation of excellence in skilled nursing care. The company’s conviction, that It Takes a Minute to Change a Life, is what drives each team member and FPACP’s overall business objectives.
Visit FPACP’s website at www.fpacp.com
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