Commenter:
Connie Miller, Greenfield Senior Living
Assisted Living Administrator Exam
There is already a labor shortage of assisted living administrators in Virginia. With the onset of the proposed exam, many highly qualified personnel are relocating to neighboring states in an effort to avoid the testing, creating a serious concern for an adequate supply of qualified administrators. It is further projected that this void will cause many of the remaining administrators to “jump” from job to job, as the bidding wars will begin. In other words, the facilities will be pulling out all stops to hire the remaining administrators. This will cause significant instability, as there will be extremely high turnover. The senior residents will be the ultimate ones to suffer. This will further promote a lack of desire from persons in other states to come to Virginia due to stringent requirements to become licensed. This will have a considerable negative impact on the quality of administrators than remain.
Only two other states require the national examination to license assisted living administrators. A third state required the examination until recently when they changed their regulations to require a state examination.
The cost of the national exam and study guide is approximately $400, which is cost prohibitive for many individuals who must pay the costs out of their personal pockets. This financial restriction will result in the loss of compassionate and outstanding administrators who cannot afford the costs.
The assisted living industry does not support a national examination, as the ones that will suffer most is the residents and the quality of care that they will receive, due to the lack of remaining quality administrators. This will also significantly increase the costs to the residents, as the salaries for the remaining administrators will skyrocket due to supply and demand. This cost will ultimately be passed onto the seniors that live in our communities. This will necessitate many to be admitted to nursing homes, as they will no longer be able to afford assisted living care. Government costs will also increase, as the cost for the skilled care, in many cases, will need to be absorbed by government funding.
