Nearly 100 members of the U.S. House of Representatives are urging the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to reconsider the proposed federal nursing home staffing mandate.
The lawmakers on Friday sent a letter to CMS describing their concerns with the mandate.
“Finalizing this proposal would result in limited access to care for seniors, mandatory increases in state Medicaid budgets, and could most consequentially lead to widespread nursing home closures,” they wrote.
Among numerous objections they raised, the representatives stated that the mandate’s requirement for 24/7 registered nurse staffing “disregards existing Medicare and Medicaid statutes.”
They also argued that the rule should count licensed practical nurses toward the mandate’s nursing requirements.
Legislators on the other side of Capitol Hill also have urged CMS to scrap the mandate. This week, U.S. Senators Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Angus King (I-Maine), sent a letter to CMS emphasizing that the mandate would threaten veterans’ access to long-term care. And earlier in October, a group of 28 senators sent a letter pushing CMS to abandon the mandate.
Rep. Greg Pence (R-IN) was the driving force behind Friday’s letter to CMS from the House, which was signed by 96 lawmakers in total.
“If implemented, facilities throughout the country will have no choice but to deny access to our nation’s seniors who need nursing home care, especially in rural communities, like many of the ones I represent in Indiana’s sixth congressional district,” Pence stated in a press release. “This one-size-fits-all regulatory requirement will result in many negative consequences, and I strongly urge Secretary Becerra to reconsider this proposal.”
Pence’s concerns related to rural markets echoed those raised by health care leaders — including American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living CEO Mark Parkinson — earlier in the week, at a summit convened by South Dakota-based health system Sanford. The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society — the largest nonprofit nursing home provider in the nation — is part of Sanford.
With many rural nursing homes already in financial peril and facing severe staffing shortages, the mandate could force many to close their doors, leading to large “nursing home deserts” across the country, SNN reported earlier this week.
LeadingAge came out in support of the House letter on Friday.
“We urge for a delay in the proposed rule until there are enough qualified applicants and adequate funding to address staffing levels realistically throughout the long-term care continuum,” LeadingAge stated in an email sent to Skilled Nursing News. “Instead of impractical and ineffective new rules, the administration and Congress should invest in serious solutions to tackle the aging services workforce crisis in America.”
Companies featured in this article:
AHCA/NCAL, CMS, Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society, LeadingAge, Sanford Health
