Biden’s nursing home plans will require federal minimum staffing mandates.

On Behalf of Rosenberg, Eisenberg & Associates, LLC | December 8, 2022 | Nursing Home Abuse & Neglect

Nursing homes are places to provide support and medical care for those who are too old to take care of themselves. All nursing homes are supposed to have sufficient care for all residents, including nursing aides and skilled nurses, 24 hours a day. Unfortunately, since the pandemic outbreak, multiple residents' lawsuits and deaths have resulted from staffing shortages and neglect. 

Biden's Administration sparked interest in new plans for mandated staffing when they saw a soaring increase in coronavirus deaths in nursing homes. Even so, many workers have been demanding staffing mandates for decades and have been denied due to hefty costs. To maintain the ratio of residents to staff, the industry could require 187,000 new workers and a budget of $10 billion. 

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) explained that residents should receive 4.1 hours daily to avoid injury and mistreatment, equivalent to 1 nurse for every seven residents. According to federal data, there has been nearly a 15% drop in nursing home employment since the pandemic. This has resulted in staffing shortages, receiving double the number of residents to care for, and further neglect. 

Short staffing has and can lead to multiple residents being severely injured, ranging from torn and pulled ligaments and tendons to broken bones, concussions and spinal cord injuries. Such as lying in a bed of urine and feces for hours of a day, not receiving daily medications on time, injuries leading to death, and neglect of elders in nursing homes. Sadly, many families are not contacted when their loved one in the nursing homes had a fatal injury or tested positive for coronavirus. 

A prime example deriving from staffing shortages was shown through the death of a 67-year-old resident. The alleged complaint indicates that the resident passed away due to the neglect of a small sore (the size of a fingernail) that was not medically taken care of. Three months before his death, the resident had multiple facial injuries, bed bug bites, a strong odor in their room, and was soaked in urine. 

The nursing home industry opposes all plans for a staffing mandate to avoid high costs and shortages.