A new agreement between the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and health care quality improvement organizations focuses on reducing nursing assistant turnover rates in more than 2,000 nursing homes. Nurse aide turnover averages 71 percent per year, according to the American Health Care Association. Poor retention of assistant nurses leads to stressed-out nurses who don’t have enough time to properly care for nursing home residents. Reducing turnover by at least 15 percent—the goal of the agreement—will save about $27,000 per nursing home per year.

Similarly, reducing nursing home shortages is the focus of a new report released by National Commission on Nursing Workforce for Long-Term Care. According to the report, there are almost 100,000 vacant nursing staff positions on any given day in long-term care facilities.

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