The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is proceeding with a $75 million program to help address the shortage of nurses and certified nursing assistants (CNAs) in U.S. nursing homes.

“The reality is, we have a shortage of qualified nursing home staff in every state in America – that has to change, starting now,” CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said in a video posted Tuesday to the social media platform X.

We have a shortage of qualified nursing home staff in every state in America, and that must change now. I’ve reached out to all 50 governors with an opportunity to tackle this issue and letting them know that CMS is investing over $75 million to train and keep the nurses we need… pic.twitter.com/69Sqaa29JV

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— DrOzCMS (@DrOzCMS) September 8, 2025

CMS will invest “over $75 million” in the campaign, with the funds drawn from civil monetary penalties assessed on providers, Oz said. He also has sent a letter to the governor of each state inviting them to contribute a portion of their state’s civil monetary penalty funds, which CMS has committed to matching.

Oz called out tuition reimbursement and stipends and programs to “streamline training” for CNAs as among the potential ways the funds can be put to work.

“These actions will be game changers, especially in rural America,” he said.

This CMS campaign has been promised since 2023, when it was put forward as part of the push to implement federal minimum staffing requirements for nursing homes. That staffing rule is essentially defunct following court orders and Congressional action, and CMS recently has taken steps to rescind the rule.

An official with LeadingAge, the largest association of nonprofit senior living and care providers, noted the shift from CMS while applauding Tuesday’s announcement from Oz.

“Combined with last week’s interim final rule to repeal the [federal] staffing requirements … this news is a welcome refocusing on what’s paramount to achieving a goal we share with the administration, residents, families and all stakeholders: ensuring quality care. That is, investments in supports and solutions to retain, strengthen and grow the aging services workforce,” said Jodi Eyigor, senior director nursing home quality and health regulation at LeadingAge​​. “We’re eager to learn the details of this initiative as it progresses.”

The American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL), the nation’s largest nursing home provider association, also cheered Oz’s announcement.

“We have long been awaiting the release of this staffing campaign after providing recommendations to enhance the effort when it was announced late last year,” said AHCA’s Holly Harmon, senior vice president of quality, regulatory and clinical services. “This is an encouraging start to what we hope will be an ongoing collaboration between CMS and the profession on meaningful ways to further invest in the long term care workforce.”

Some nursing home providers have seen recent improvements in their labor pipelines and have notched wins by pursuing innovative strategies, including creating roles such as the “retentionist” to address turnover.

“We have seen a change. Our pipeline for candidates has increased about 33% over the last few quarters,” Laurel Lingle, vice president of talent acquisition for Journey Skilled Nursing, said at the recent Skilled Nursing News RETHINK Conference in Chicago.

Still, the caregiver shortage is one of the most daunting challenges facing the nursing home sector, and to Oz’s point about rural markets, these less populated areas of the country have been of particular concern to providers and advocates.

But there is evidence that more funding for training programs and educational support could help move the needle in the right direction, given that providers have already notched wins through these kinds of initiatives that they have pursued through their own means. 

For instance, Sioux Falls, South Dakota-based Good Samaritan serves 10,000 older adults across the upper Midwest, with 70% of that patient population living in a rural area. The organization was able to increase overall worker retention by two percentage points last year, through a wide-ranging effort.

“We’ve created more flexible roles, raised wages, launched new hiring incentives, and expanded scholarship programs,” Good Samaritan CEO Nate Schema recently told Skilled Nursing News.