The Trump Administration is preparing a plan to eliminate federal regulations swiftly and permanently, which could include removal of the nursing home staffing mandate.

According to the New York Times, officials at several federal agencies are being instructed to bypass the traditional repeal process, one that often takes years.

President Donald Trump has requested officials to compile a list of regulations targeted for removal, and these agencies are rushing to meet a deadline next week, after which the White House will finalize a master list, the Times story stated.

The Times’ story on the Trump administration’s move towards large scale deregulation is based on interviews with 14 current and former Trump administration officials, federal regulators and people involved in the Department of Government Efficiency, also known as DOGE.

The effort is being led by Russell T. Vought, former director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and relies on “novel legal interpretations” of Supreme Court rulings, including recent decisions and one from the 1980s, the Times noted. The strategy may include halting enforcement of certain regulations rather than formally repealing them through the traditional rulemaking process, per the Times.

While Skilled Nursing News hasn’t been able to confirm whether the nursing home staffing rule is indeed on the chopping block by the Trump Administration, advocates for the sector welcomed the move.

Linda Couch, SVP of policy at LeadingAge, told SNN that the removal of the staffing mandate couldn’t come any sooner.

“Our stance has always been clear: imposing mandates rather than addressing funding adequacy and workforce sufficiency is wrong-headed,” Couch said. “The sooner the administration reverses the nursing home staffing rule, the better,” she said, adding, “The mandate ignored the critical interdependence of funding, care, staffing, and quality, and would have severely impacted our ability to provide the care and services that our nursing home members, along with providers in other care settings such as home health and hospice, deliver every day.”

A memo issued last week by the White House instructed agencies to skip the traditionally lengthy legal process of posting proposed rule changes for public comment. Instead, it advised that in many cases, policy makers should proceed directly with removing the rules.