May 3, 2024 Washington, DC — With the regulatory clock ticking on nursing home compliance following the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) April 22 release of the final minimum staffing rule for nursing homes, Katie Smith Sloan, president and CEO of LeadingAge, the association of nonprofit providers of aging services, including nursing homes, emphasized to the Biden Administration the importance of partnering with—not disparaging—providers to succeed in bringing more registered nurses and nurse aides to long-term care. 

In a letter to President Biden, Sloan called out the administration’s mischaracterization of aging services providers and repeated incendiary descriptions of care delivered in nursing homes as the White House promoted the final rule’s rollout.

The White House’s resurfacing of all-nursing-homes-as-bad-actors messaging, used in February 2022 and in the final rule’s April 22 “Fact Sheet”, and framing of the sector as harmful to older adults and in need of a crackdown is troubling, Sloan said. Of the recent nursing home care workers roundtable in LaCrosse, WI, during which the Vice President characterized the care provided in nursing homes as neglectful—no one to help residents when they fall, comfort them when lonely, or serve them meals on time—and suggested widespread disregard by nursing home management for the staff who do the lion’s share of the direct care work, Sloan commented: for the Vice President to suggest that both are regular occurrences in nursing homes is grossly misleading.

“To be clear: bad actors must be stopped—and, as you know, nursing homes must follow federal and state requirements to protect residents’ health and safety and to ensure the proper use of funds derived from taxpayer dollars; surely, federal and state regulators and inspectors would not allow rampant managerial misdeeds and harm throughout the sector,” she wrote, pointing out that over one-third of homes are the highest performers, based on scores derived from the government’s own measures. America’s 15,000 nursing homes are not all the same.

“Our members take seriously their responsibility to residents, families, the broader community — as well as to state and federal regulators,” Sloan added, noting that since the 2022 release of the White House’s Action Plan for Nursing Home Reform, LeadingAge has repeatedly expressed its alignment with the President’s position: ensuring older adults and families can receive quality care in nursing homes is a shared goal. “We know,” Sloan said, “as you do, that quality care and staffing are tightly connected.”  

Now, as the final staffing rule implementation deadline looms, a lack of qualified workers and support needed for recruitment, training, and retention pose significant obstacles to providers’ ability to comply with the mandate. 

“This is no time to mislead the public and discourage potential employees from joining our ranks,” Sloan continued. “…your administration’s inaccurate framing of all providers and our sector threatens to undermine efforts—including the $75 million recruitment campaign promised by CMS to encourage more nurses to work in nursing homes—to achieve the shared goal of bringing new staff to the field.” 

She closed with an entreaty: “Rather than disparage us, partner with us. Visit our communities … witness, first-hand, the innovations they’ve developed to navigate their workforce challenges. Hear what needs to be done to solve them. There’s much to be done. Let’s work together to build a stronger and enticing pathway to aging services for nurses and nursing assistants.”