September 1, 2023 Washington, DC – Statement from Katie Smith Sloan, president and CEO, LeadingAge, the association of nonprofit providers of aging services, including nursing homes, on the Biden Administration’s proposed nursing home staffing mandates:
“To say that we are disappointed that President Biden chose to move forward with the proposed staffing ratios despite clear evidence against them is an understatement.
We share the Administration’s goal of ensuring access to quality nursing home care. This proposed rule works against that shared goal. One-size-fits-all staffing ratios don’t guarantee quality, as the Administration’s own Abt research findings made clear. That aside, it’s meaningless to mandate staffing levels that cannot be met.
There are simply no people to hire—especially nurses. The proposed rule requires that nursing homes hire additional staff. But where are they coming from? To serve older adults and families, nursing homes must have the resources, including staff, to serve them. Without that, there is no care.
Funding for training programs – while a huge need, to be sure – is simply not enough at this point. America’s under-funded, long-ignored long-term care sector is in a workforce crisis. The Biden Administration has in this initiative an opportunity to change the narrative surrounding nursing homes. Commit to real solutions: prioritize immigration reform to help build the pipeline, increase reimbursement rates to cover the cost of care and increase wages.
Nonprofit and mission-driven nursing homes will be forced to reduce admissions or even close if this rule is finalized—a needless outcome that will cause older Americans and families to suffer. The Biden White House in 2022 set out to create policy based on research. If neither study nor practice nor reason guide our federal regulations, how can CMS justify them?
