Harrisburg, PA – Governor Josh Shapiro’s 2025-26 budget proposal allocates $7.5 million for quality investment projects (QIP) in Pennsylvania’s long-term care facilities to improve care for older adults. Funding would support facilities in areas affecting workforce development and retention, infection prevention and emergency preparedness, as well as infrastructure.
More than 80,000 Pennsylvanians reside in over 700 nursing homes throughout the state. In 2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provided federal funds to the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s Long-term Care Transformation Office (LTCTO) to implement quality investment pilot projects at facilities across the state.
Over the past two years, QIP investments led directly to significant improvements in participating long-term care facilities, such as:
- 27% reduction in staff vacancies;
- 35% decrease in the average number of residents evaluated at medical facilities; and
- 56% decrease in skilled nursing home health citations.
Thirty-seven facilities in rural areas have benefited from QIP initiatives, accounting for $3.1 million of the total amount spent in QIP initiatives, in just one year.
Click here to watch Amy Wagaman, Country Meadows Retirement Communities Vice President of Operations, and click here to watch Irene Killiri, Country Meadows York-West Campus Executive Director, talk about the importance of quality care for older adults in Pennsylvania’s long-term care facilities, or read the transcripts below.
Amy Wagaman, Country Meadows Retirement Communities Senior Vice President of Operations
Watch Amy Wagaman, Country Meadows Retirement Communities Senior Vice President of Operations, talk about the importance of quality care for older adults in Pennsylvania’s long-term care facilities.
TRANSCRIPT – Amy Wagaman
“Well, long term care facilities is a very broad way to describe what we do here.
“We primarily, at Country Meadows, provide personal care services to residents.
“And I think it's important to note specifically for our section of the industry, that our residents are coming to us with much higher acuity needs.
“They're staying with us a lot longer because there are a shortage of skilled nursing beds in our industry, and so continuing to be able to provide financial resources and other pilot programs to this section only helps us be able to provide that quality of care longer to the residents as they're in those care transitions.”
Irene Killiri, Country Meadows York-West Campus Executive Director
Watch Irene Killiri, Country Meadows York-West Campus Executive Director, talk about the importance of quality care for older adults in Pennsylvania’s long-term care facilities.
TRANSCRIPT – Irene Killiri
“This is the generation that has brought us all to where we are. This is the generation that needs our support.
“They are still productive members of society, so anything we can do to make their life purposeful and still have fun and actually teach us as we go is worth every dime you can invest.
“Everyone needs quality in their life. So the more quality we can give them, the more dignity we can give them, as they're starting to decline, make their lives better — have a fun day, laugh, still take care of them, still do the intimate care.
“Some of the care is hard, but it still gives them quality, so they can be productive and know they still have a purpose here and they're still teaching us every day.”
###