America’s nursing homes are dwindling in number.
The U.S. has at least 600 fewer nursing homes than it did six years ago, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of federal data. More senior care is happening at home, and the pandemic caused many families to shun nursing homes while draining workers from an already short-staffed industry.
The result? Frail elderly patients are stuck in hospitals, a dangerous place for seniors, waiting for somewhere to go— sometimes for months. Beds are disappearing while the need for senior care is growing. The American population 65 and older is expected to swell from 56 million in 2020 to 81 million by 2040.
Even before the industry started to shrink noticeably, it was effectively contracting. Though fewer people tend to live in counties without nursing homes, those counties tend to have more elderly residents than average. For people who need comprehensive care, closures can mean disruptive moves or ending up far from loved ones.
Data show capacity in the nursing-home industry has lagged behind growth in the ranks of older Americans. By 2018, the decline accelerated as nursing-home beds steadily disappeared. The shrinkage was decades in the making. Most older people prefer to stay in their homes, and more Medicaid spending on long-term care has gone to home- and community-based services rather than institutions such as nursing homes since 2013. Those forces contributed to a net loss in nursing-home beds that has hit almost every state. In the pandemic’s first year, before Covid-19 vaccines, the virus swept through nursing homes with deadly results. More than 167,800 nursing-home residents died from Covid, and many of the facilities’ employees also died from the virus. Staffing levels have recovered at hospitals since the worst of the pandemic but not at nursing homes. In Massachusetts, where bed losses are among the steepest, recent state hospital-association surveys show 563 patients a month, on average, couldn’t leave hospitals for nursing homes when the patients were ready. Hundreds of such patients have spent at least a month in hospitals. Similar delays at hospitals across the U.S. are adding to emergency-department backlogs that reached records last year, according to data from the Emergency Department Benchmarking Alliance. Half of patients ready to move from an emergency department to a hospital bed waited at least 2½ hours in 2022. |
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Traditionally, branding was seen as a way to differentiate products and services from competitors, primarily through advertising and promotional efforts. The focus was on creating a unique and memorable logo, slogan, and packaging design. This was believed to be the key to building brand recognition and customer loyalty.
In recent years, market conditions have shifted and the way people make buying decisions has changed. Consumers are now more informed and empowered, and they have more options than ever before. As a result, traditional notions of branding are no longer as effective as they once were. Companies must now find new ways to connect with customers and stand out in a crowded marketplace.
A new approach to branding is needed that takes into account these changing market conditions. This approach is focused on building relationships with customers, rather than just trying to sell them a product. It’s about creating a brand that is authentic and resonates with customers on an emotional level. This requires a deep understanding of customer needs and values and consistent alignment of business, brand and behaviour, to build trust and customer loyalty. Additionally, brand experience and customer service play a more important role as well as understanding and engaging with social media and digital platforms to spread the brand’s message. It also requires being more transparent and ethical in communication and practice. Your brand is a fundamental and vital aspect of your professional services firm. If this is the case, then the development and improvement of the brand should be viewed as a paramount objective. In fact, the brand serves as the embodiment of the firm, encapsulating its values, mission, and reputation. As such, the cultivation and enhancement of the brand is essential for the long-term success and sustainability of the firm Brand Strategy Development: In today’s fast-paced and highly competitive business environment, the development and enhancement of a strong brand is crucial for the long-term success and sustainability of a professional services firm. A strong brand can serve as a differentiator, building trust and credibility with clients, and establishing a reputation for quality and expertise. The first step in developing a brand strategy is to define the firm’s vision, mission, and values. The firm’s vision should be a clear and compelling statement of what the firm hopes to achieve in the long term. |
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In a podcast with artificial intelligence researcher Lex Fridman, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, was asked to describe GPT-4, the latest version of the large language model powering various AI-based software. Here is what he said:
It’s a system we will look back at and say it was a very early AI. It’s slow, it’s buggy and it doesn’t do a lot of things very well. But neither did the very earliest computers—and they still pointed a path to something that was going to be very important in our lives.
The notion that something as advanced as GPT-4, which powers OpenAI’s ChatGPT, is only the beginning is hard for many people to wrap their heads around. In fact, people are already showing up to therapy with real concerns about what this early AI is doing to their well-being and how it might impact their future employment.
Here are two optimistic takes on the AI revolution that may help quell any AI-related stress and anxiety you may be experiencing.
1. Humans and AI Will Collaborate to Enhance Each Other’s Strengths Let’s face it: As capable as our brains are, there are many things AI can do better than a human. In 2021, the World Health Organization and the International Labor Organization jointly produced a study that attempted to understand the effects overworking had on people. The results were clear— people who worked for 55 or more hours a week had a 35 percent higher chance of experiencing a stroke and a 17 percent higher chance of dying from heart disease compared to people who worked the standard 35- to 40-hour workweek. article continues after advertisement And it’s not just our health that suffers. A 2014 Stanford University study found that working beyond 55 hours in a week does not result in much, if any, additional work being accomplished. Contrast this with AI which has the potential to work around the clock with virtually no effects of fatigue, and produce work that is often indistinguishable, if not better, than what a human can produce. In fact, a 2023 study published in Science Advances found that participants were unable to tell apart tweets written by GPT-3 and those written by a human. The study also discovered that, in many cases, the work produced by the model was far more accurate. |
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