Nursing Home Staffing Minimum Law Takes Effect in New York

Nursing homes across the state of New York must now abide by a new law that requires facilities to meet minimum staffing levels after Gov. Kathy Hochul lifted a three-month pause on Friday.

Hochul originally delayed implementation of the mandates, citing the industry’s staffing challenges made worse by the omicron variant.

The law requires the state’s more than 600 nursing homes to provide 3.5 hours of care per resident per day. Of the 3.5 hours, no less than 2.2 hours of care must be provided by a certified nursing assistant (CNA) or nurse aide. At least 1.1 hours of care must be given by a registered nurse (RN) or licensed practical nurse (LPN).

Advertisement

The law stipulates that 70% of a nursing home’s revenue is to be spent on direct resident care and at least 40% spent on staffing. It also states that nursing home operators in the state are required to return all profits in excess of 5% to the state, regardless of the quality of care or whether the operator sustained losses in prior years.

The law was first introduced by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2021 as a way to improve nursing home transparency and hold bad actors accountable.

The mandate comes at a time when the Biden administration has set its sights on a federal nursing home staffing minimum.

Advertisement

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is expected to conduct a study to determine the level and type of staffing needed, and propose a new federal standard within one year, the agency confirmed during a stakeholder call on March 10.

Gov. Hochul’s move received mixed reactions from labor unions and industry trade groups.

Before the law even went into effect, of the 611 nursing homes in the state 383 (63%) were considered below 3.5 hours per resident day staffing requirements.

That’s according to a report compiled by professional services firm CliftonLarsonAllen (CLA) as part of a partnership with the NYS Health Facilities Association.

To meet the new staffing requirements, it would take an additional 5,610 additional staff for New York facilities, according to the report.

Stephen Hanse, New York State Health Facilities Association president and CEO, said the laws do not reflect the current reality of New York’s long-term care landscape, calling it “unworkable.”

“The only resolution to the workforce crisis, which is not going to be resolved today, tomorrow, in a month, or six months for that matter, is a partnership between the administration, the legislature, providers and labor working together to put in real initiatives that will help recruit and retain workers,” Hanse told Skilled Nursing News.

The CLA report found that it would cost anywhere from $250,000 to $1.6 million in annual costs per facility that is below the newly imposed staffing requirements.

Hanse told SNN that many facilities have limited or stopped admissions as a result of the staffing crisis, which has noticeably backed up hospital discharges.

“We’ve heard directly from hospitals their frustration about not being able to discharge people who are not ready to return to the community,” he said.

Labor union 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East and consumer advocates on Friday expressed gratitude to Hochul for putting the minimums into effect.

Milly Silva, the union’s executive vice president, said nursing home leadership needs to find effective ways to retain its workers, which will result in better recruiting success.

“If employers actually invest and agree that they are going to do everything they can to retain those committed workers, they won’t lose them,” she said during a virtual news conference on Friday. “It means that you have to confront issues around wages, issues around benefits, issues around working conditions and what it means to have a safe working environment for the caregivers.”

Helen Schaub, the union’s policy and legislative director, said during the virtual news conference that the health department will view payroll based journal (PBJ) data to ensure nursing homes are complying with the laws.

Fines for noncompliance could be up to $2,000 a day, she said.

In a statement provided to Skilled Nursing News, the state Department of Health said, “at this time, nursing homes should appropriately document their efforts to comply with the law. Mitigating factors can be considered by the [d]epartment when assessing penalties for non-compliance at a later date.”

Companies featured in this article:

, , , ,