Nursing Home Staffing Minimums: A New Proposal from the Biden Administration
On September 1st, the U.S Department of Health and Human Services issued a proposed rule that “seeks to establish comprehensive staffing requirements for nursing homes—including, for the first time, national minimum nurse staffing standards—to ensure access to safe, high-quality care for the over 1.2 million residents living in nursing homes each day.” Nursing homes would be required to provide three hours of care per resident per day. 0.55 hours of the three hours would need to involve care from registered nurses. Laws regarding nursing homes have not been updated since 1987. The rule is in addition to the stipulations set in the “Action Plan for Nursing Home”.
The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services estimates that over 160,000 nursing home residents have died during the Covid Pandemic. The Biden administration has confirmed that these proposed regulations are in part a result of those deaths. Nursing homes during the height of the pandemic were greatly understaffed and undertrained which undoubtedly made things worse for the highly venerable residents.
In general, maintaining a full staff is vital when considering the safety of nursing home residents. When facilities are short-staffed, major-medical tasks fall to the wayside. Resident neglect can lead to bed sores, falls, malnutrition, a sudden decline in mental abilities, sepsis or even death. New regulations could undoubtedly save lives, but there are concerns that the Biden administration’s proposal is unrealistic and doesn’t take a hard enough stance against the rising crisis.
The American Health Care Association, which represents over 14,000 nursing homes and long-term care facilities, released a statement remarking that “…nursing homes are facing the worst labor shortage in our sector’s history, and seniors’ access to care is under threat. This unfunded mandate, which will cost billions of dollars each year, will worsen this growing crisis.”
Over the next few weeks, public commentary will undoubtedly affect the success of this major proposal.
If you or a loved one has been harmed at a nursing home or long-term care facility, contact our office at 847-640-1676.