Impacts of Nursing Home Closures
These care settings are hubs of activity and major economic drivers for their town. Nursing homes and assisted living facilities support more than $3 billion of Nebraska’s economic activity.
When a nursing home closes, it means family and friends must travel greater distances to visit their loved ones.
A report published in the July 2022 Journal of Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine (JAMDA) examined six factors associated with the likelihood of visitation and found travel time has a “substantively and statistically significant negative association with visit probability for all age groups.”
Less frequent visitation by families and friends has a negative impact on residents’ physical health and emotional well-being.
An earlier report published in the February 2021 JAMDA reviewed published research and identified a positive association between social connection and residents’ health and well-being.