Lifestyle

Why You Should Avoid Moving Elderly Loved Ones into a State Facility

Published

5 years ago

March 26, 2021

Nobody is ever truly prepared to move a loved one into a care facility. Whether it’s an assisted living environment or a long-term care (LTC) facility, it’s not an easy move. It’s hard for older people to be forced into an unfamiliar living environment that doesn’t feel like home.

Although most people can get their care completely covered by moving into a state-run facility, it’s not the best choice. Ideally, your loved one will be happier in a private facility. Here’s why.

State facilities don’t have the budget to create a thriving environment

Everyone deserves to live in a luxurious environment with homemade meals and plenty of love and care. That’s exactly what Anna Pittard thought when she created Cotton Grove Estate – an exceptional personal care home for seniors in Georgia.

It’s not hard to create a thriving environment. Luxury private care homes exist all around the United States. However, state-run facilities don’t have the budget to create this type of atmosphere. That’s where they fall short.

State-run facilities rely on government funds that don’t go nearly as far as they should. For example, budget priorities are functional rather than aesthetic, even though aesthetics play a huge role in a person’s ability to thrive in their environment.

State facilities tend to furnish rooms and common areas with drab furniture, drab upholstery, and residents are lucky if the wall décor is even slightly inspiring. Most of the time décor doesn’t even match.

Private facilities, on the other hand, hire interior decorators to create an environment that supports the residents in feeling good wherever they roam.

State-run LTC facilities feel more like a hospital

Unless you’re moving your loved one into an assisted living facility, they’re probably going to be living in an environment that feels more like a hospital than a home.

Long-term care facilities generally have two residents per room and each bed is separated by a hospital curtain. While residents can have personal belongings, there’s no real privacy or room to decorate to any extent.

Although one lucky room resident gets a window view, they still have to stare at a curtain. Staring at a hospital room curtain can be depressing. The hospital environment is amplified by the fact that people come in and out all day long to check vitals and administer medication.

State-run nursing homes are usually (and perpetually) understaffed

It’s unfortunate that any care facility would be understaffed, but it’s a common problem with state facilities. Being understaffed places a huge burden on staff. Even the best nurses and aides struggle to do their job and be there for their residents.

Often, staff members can barely finish their basic tasks distributing medications, getting residents fed, bathed, and changed. That leaves no time to connect, play a game of cards, or just talk with residents. Companionship is necessary, yet it’s not in the budget.

In a state facility, your loved one may miss out on these important things:

Companionship. Sometimes people just want someone to chat with about their life. Staff in a state facility don’t usually have time to chat for longer than it takes for them to perform their duties.
Eating meals with company. Many people prefer to eat their meals with other people and eating alone is a guaranteed path to depression. If it’s hard for someone to get out of bed, they’ll struggle to get to the dining room to eat with others.
Having their living space organized. State staff don’t have time to tidy up a resident’s room to keep it looking good. Things like aligning books on a bookshelf, standing greeting cards back up, and flipping the calendar to the current month often go ignored. Attention to these details can make all the difference in a patient’s wellbeing.

Choose private care whenever possible

Statistics show that people who move into nursing homes pass away within 6 months. Sometimes it’s because of an illness, but much of the time people lose interest in life because of their environment. They stop eating, drinking, and won’t participate in activities.

If you don’t have a choice, make sure you do thorough research before choosing a state facility. Visit potential facilities multiple times (unannounced) and do extensive research to get the full picture. This includes requesting each facility’s state inspection survey (Form 2567), which they are legally required to provide.

If you can put your loved one in a private facility, don’t hesitate. They’ll have a higher quality of life and that’s always worth the extra cost.

Lifestyle

Kat Marie Alvarez: Where Innovation Meets Regulation

Published

11 hours ago

January 23, 2026

Michelle Langton

Regulation is often thought of as a limitation, yet in healthcare, it also serves as a foundation for building models that endure. For Kat Marie Alvarez, Founder and CEO of KATALYST & CO, the framework of rules established by agencies like CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid) and the OIG ( office of the Inspector General) create opportunities to design systems that are compliant, ethical, and transformative. Her approach demonstrates that regulation can be a platform for innovation when it is interpreted with both technical rigor and vision.

Kat’s 25-year career reflects this philosophy. A former nurse who advanced into executive leadership and strategy, she has led $2.7B+ P&L operations, advised on over $5B in healthcare transactions, and guided value based organizations including Innovacare, Cano Health, WellMed, Centene, and Humana through periods of exponential scaling. Her perspective combines clinical, financial, and regulatory experience, giving her a unique ability to design structures that support integrity and accountability while driving measurable outcomes.

Turning Statutes into Strategy

For Kat, regulation serves as a framework for building smarter and more ethical models. She interprets CMS guidance and OIG rules as levers for innovation, using them to advance integrity and accountability. With the CMS V28 risk adjustment model, Alvarez refined coding practices, strengthened clinical documentation, and structured risk frameworks that reward accuracy and elevate standards of care. In addressing RADV audits, she crafted strategies that protect stakeholders while keeping patient outcomes at the forefront. She aligns compliance, cost, and care in equal measure. Her current work as a contributor to the CMS IDea Challenge, an initiative focused on strengthening the foundation of trust in our system, further echoes her commitment to advancing regulations in ways that unlock innovation while safeguarding the integrity of care.

Her interpretive approach brings discipline and vision to every challenge. She engages stakeholders to redesign workflows that meet regulatory requirements and enhance the patient experience. Each policy becomes a mechanism to strengthen accountability and operational precision, shaping a system that is both compliant and humane.

Innovation Built Within Boundaries

At KATALYST & CO, this interpretive approach is carried into every project. Kat has integrated predictive analytics and AI-driven tools into care models, with safeguards that ensure interventions remain clinician-led and ethically sound. For example, AI flags in chronic disease management are connected to human-led actions that improve patient care. The result is a model that benefits from technology while preserving accountability and clinical integrity.

Staffing and infrastructure provide another example of her philosophy in action. By leveraging offshore BPO operations in Latin America, Asia, and Eastern Europe, KATALYST & CO extends capacity for health plans and providers. These expansions are carefully designed to meet data security, licensure, and jurisdictional requirements, ensuring that global reach is paired with local compliance. It is a system that balances scale with responsibility.

The Art of Influence Through Alignment

Kat often describes her role as translating complexity into clarity. Whether she is working with payers, providers, or investors, she builds consensus by grounding ambitious strategies in the language of statute. Value-based care models, utilization management programs, and clinical frameworks are designed to prove compliant ROI for stakeholders while maintaining patient focus.

Her approach begins with people. In integrations, partnerships, and platform builds, she respects legacy strengths, listens to frontline voices, and creates systems that are not only efficient but also trusted. This ensures that compliance does not feel like restriction, but like a structure that supports innovation and adoption.

Redefining the Future of Compliance and Care

KATALYST & CO is scaling with $10M in initial funding, expanded international operations, and a growing advisory portfolio. Under Kat’s leadership, the firm is showing how regulation can be a foundation for both innovation and durability. She demonstrates that lasting progress in healthcare is achieved by leaders who know how to design systems that are bold, ethical, and deeply human.

By approaching regulation as a guide rather than a limitation, Kat Alvarez is building models that prove compliance and innovation can move forward together. Her formula ensures that the future of healthcare is shaped not only by ambition, but also by trust and responsibility.