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Minimum Nursing Home Staffing Proposal Gets Rough Reception

September 1, 2023

The Biden administration’s nursing home minimum staffing proposal landed with a collective thud Friday as consumer advocates, industry officials and lawmakers offered near unanimous criticism of the long-awaited proposal—albeit for different reasons.

Nursing home officials said the proposed rule (RIN: 0938-AV25) will be impossible to implement due to staffing shortages and its cost. Advocates for facility residents said the proposed staffing requirements are too low. And Democrat Sen. Jon Tester of Montana said in a statement the proposal will put “undue burden on rural and underserved facilities.” Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) said in a statement that the “weak and disappointing proposal” does little “to improve the quality of care or stop the mistreatment of nursing home staff.”

The minimum staffing requirement is the centerpiece of a wide-ranging Biden administration push to improve the quality of care at US nursing homes, which were ravaged by Covid-19. But “this is certainly not what we imagined when President Biden announced this initiative almost a year and a half ago,” said Sam Brooks, director of public policy at the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care. “It’s a hard day for nursing home residents. We’re very disappointed.”

Read the full story from Bloomberg here.

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