In a response to President Joe Biden’s editorial in USA Today, LeadingAge CEO Katie Smith Sloan penned her own opinion piece in the publication to tell the industry’s side of the story, as the nursing home space reels from the federal staffing minimum announcement last week.
Notably, Sloan expanded on the story of nonprofits in the skilled nursing space, as the association represents such operators in Washington.
In his editorial, Biden said it’s “telling” that nonprofit nursing homes are three times as likely as for-profit facilities to already satisfy the proposed staffing minimum – and Sloan said this message needs to be moved to the forefront of its public statements and policies.
“Nursing homes aren’t all the same. Read far enough into an op-ed or sift through documents such as the hundreds of pages of a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services proposed rule on staffing mandates in nursing homes, it’s clear that the administration knows this,” said Sloan.
However, Biden did just that – what Sloan called an “unqualified and unfair slam.” The president said he sought to deliver a clear message to the industry overall with the proposed mandate, that there would be no more “padding profits on the backs of residents and nurses.”
With his administration’s stance, and narrative for the public, Biden is eroding the trusted role nursing homes play for the people they serve, and their families, Sloan said.
She ended her editorial with a plea to lift up those in the industry and support them, as the industry continues to recover from the pandemic and faces workforce challenges, rising costs and inflation.
One way to help bring a pipeline of staff in, she said, would be to work with Congress to reform immigration pathways, raise reimbursement rates and inspire states to do likewise. The administration must be part of the solution in order to protect and preserve access to quality care, Sloan said.
“We cannot bear the burden of the just-released proposed staffing mandates alone. The costs, estimated to reach into the billions, will be crushing,” she said.
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