Minnesota lawmakers passed a bill to create a regulatory board to set compensation levels for nursing homes after declining to increase wages. The Minnesota Nursing Home Workforce Standards Board will set the initial wage limits and working hours by Aug. 1, 2024. Moreover, the board will be responsible for setting minimum employment standards, certifying worker organizations […]
Category: Legislation
As the Skilled Nursing News’ CLINICAL event in Washington D.C. came to a close last month, industry experts left with staffing concerns amid labor shortages and pending legislation on minimum staffing standards. However, operators also shared optimism over their innovations in corporate and clinical practices as they continued to confront higher acuity and tighter regulation. […]
The nursing home inspections system is underfunded and understaffed and needs federal assistance for alleviating inspection backlogs, or residents will remain in peril, experts and legislators said at a U.S. Senate hearing on Thursday. Officials from the long-term care ombudsman program as well as leaders from state inspections and regulatory bodies were among those who […]
Industry stakeholders and academic professionals are calling for better workforce development for direct care workers (DCWs) to address an unprecedented shortfall predicted in the coming decades. The solutions – ranging from professional development and recruitment methods, retention and career advancement methods – were published in the journal Health Affairs, and are drawn from an ongoing […]
Bad policy decisions, political acrimony and poor staffing were to blame for the alarming number of deaths in nursing homes, experts and legislators said in a U.S. House of Representatives hearing held on Wednesday. As Democratic and Republican lawmakers pointed fingers at each other, they agreed that among the many deficiencies, the must-admit policy deeply […]
Representatives in Hawaii and Alaska are pushing for legislation that would increase funding for skilled nursing facilities in both states. The Equitable Payments for Nursing Facilities Act of 2023, originally introduced in 2021, would authorize a cost-of-living adjustment to the Medicare payment formula for skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) in Hawaiʻi and Alaska to account for […]
As the public health emergency (PHE) comes to an end on May 11, industry leaders point out that nursing home operators are still in pandemic recovery mode, and that adjusting to the old way of doing business will not be easy. The PHE was declared in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and accompanied a wide […]
A Texas senate bill that will require nursing facilities to meet the state’s direct care payment ratio is advancing through the legislature. The proposed bill will force nursing facilities through Texas’s Medicaid managed care program to ensure that at least 80% of the medical assistance reimbursement amount received is spent on direct care expenses. It […]
On Monday, the federal government announced that it will end the COVID-19 vaccine requirements for healthcare employees at the end of the day on May 11, the same day that the COVID-19 public health emergency ends. “HHS and DHS announced today that they will start the process to end their vaccination requirements for Head Start […]
As those in the industry continue to adapt amid a historic workforce shortage and higher acuity patients, nursing staff are having to adapt in new ways. All nursing levels, and even dietary and housekeeping staff, need to work together to ensure a facility is providing the best patient care, despite the employee scarcity felt across […]
Stays at skilled nursing facilities without a prior hospital stay increased dramatically during the pandemic, but patient care costs did not see a major increase. That’s according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The study also found that SNF stays were linked with “potentially” faster discharge for […]
Nursing home operators may see a long phase-in for a federal minimum staffing requirement, and a host of exceptions, when more details finally come – but, it’s difficult to speculate on hypotheticals and may not help operators to dwell on the “what-ifs.” That’s according to Ensign Group (Nasdaq: ENSG) CEO Barry Port, who weighed in […]
The Minnesota House passed the Human Services budget proposal on Tuesday, which the House said is one of the largest investments in nursing homes in the state’s history. The bill, authored by Rep. Mohamud Noor (DFL-Minneapolis) Noor, would invest more than $10 million into critical access nursing facilities, he said, adding that value-based reimbursement in […]
The Louisiana House of Representatives unanimously voted to allow nursing homes to continue to operate even if their emergency preparedness and evacuation plans fail to meet state standards. The House Bill gets rid of a provision to state law – added just last year – that forces the state to automatically shut down a nursing […]
After visitation in nursing homes was shut down for non-emergency reasons at the onset of the pandemic, some states have taken action to ensure both post-acute and acute care settings allow in-person visits in future – even during a pandemic. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed a new bill into law this week to codify visitation […]
President Joe Biden’s executive order that aims to implement minimum staffing standards and tie Medicare payments to staff retention drew frustration from nursing home industry operators and advocates, who said that the well meaning directives would likely compound the staffing crisis and lead to closures unless policies are aimed at resolving its root causes, and […]
A house bill that joins similar efforts underway in other states to require Alzheimer’s training in long-term care is making its way through the Texas legislature. House Bill SB 1673 would force assisted living facilities to provide their workers with four hours of Alzheimer’s and dementia training before handling patients with those conditions. Sponsored by […]
The process of hiring immigrant workers for the nursing home industry – from start to finish – looks like a grueling task for operators, but leaders in the industry say it’s the closest to a ‘silver bullet’ we have to meeting the staffing crisis. Such a long-term investment is marred by glacial immigration processes, and […]
As nursing home closures displace residents across the country, state legislatures are scrambling to place stopgaps for operators, their residents and families facing access issues. The two bills introduced in the Montana legislature last week both stem from closures in the state – 11 in the past year, which is about 16% of the state’s […]
Democratic lawmakers this week penned a letter urging the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to ensure workers aren’t overburdened with high caseloads and inadequate support. The legislators, led by U.S. Representatives Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Lloyd Doggett (D-Tex.), also called on CMS to establish robust nursing home staffing standards to ensure residents receive […]
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