Opinion: Biden mandates the impossible, instead of a solution for long-term care access

A new jobs report released by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics last month shows that, nationally, 244,600 nursing home jobs were lost during the pandemic and that only 55,100 of those jobs have been recovered since. This means that nursing homes have lost 189,500 workers, or 12% of their workforce.

While the rest of the nation declared the public health emergency over this spring, long-term care providers continue to grapple with a workforce crisis exacerbated by the pandemic. Instead of helping to address a historic and devastating direct care worker shortage that is impeding access to care across the country, the Biden administration has proposed an inoperable and unfunded federal staffing mandate for nursing homes that will only worsen the crisis and threaten the very foundation of our long-term care system.

Read the full story from Des Moines Register here.