Since the pandemic began, healthcare institutions have had many problems including having enough staff. And now, a local chapter of a national advocacy organization says for-profit healthcare organizations are taking advantage of nonprofit facilities closing.
“D” belongs to the local chapter of the Non-Violent Medicaid Army. It advocates for healthcare for all. He requested that his full name not be used because they have filed a complaint with the Office of Healthcare Licensing.
When his mom had to have emergency surgery recently, she was sent to Shepherd of the Valley in Casper for rehabilitation after. He said the for-profit facility neglected his mom. While she was at the facility, he had to come and take care of her. D said he got her out of the home in April.
“The original plan was to get her back to baseline so that she could come home and be somewhat independent again,” “D” said. “And so that I could just help her with appointments and managing the household and everything. But instead, the things that I have to do to help her increase dramatically.”
The Non-Violent Medicaid Army is highlighting his story as an example of how for-profit healthcare facilities extract as much profit as they can, often by not providing as much or as good of care. This means they are often understaffed as well.
Shepherd of the Valley’s Medicare profile has one star out of five and said it is not fully staffed.
Another member, Erro Lynd, said for-profit health organizations are taking advantage of staffing shortages and other issues brought on by the pandemic to inflate their profits.
“Private equity and investment in healthcare ballooned in 2020, and 2021 was an absolutely record setting year,” Lynd said. “I think there was over $150 billion worth of private equity deals in healthcare that year.”
Lynd said oftentimes, these profits come from understaffing and other cuts to care. The facility did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publishing.
