Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) are an integral part of the long-term care workforce and the care continuum. For decades, nursing homes that are surveyed and assessed a civil monetary penalty (CMP) above $10,000 automatically lose their authority to train CNAs for a full two years. This two-year training lockout is a major problem for care providers as they deal with an ongoing workforce crisis that’s only been made worse by the COVID pandemic.

The nation will need to fill 8.2 million direct care jobs in the long-term care sector between 2018 and 2028 as existing workers leave the field or exit the labor force altogether, according to researchers at PHI. Nursing homes across the country have been forced to limit admissions of new short- and long-term residents—or to close entirely—because there are not enough direct caregiving professionals to provide quality care.

On June 13, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner (D-VA) and Tim Scott (R-SC) introduced S.4381, the Ensuring Seniors’ Access to Quality Care Act, which would address the “CNA training lockout” that’s contributing to the long-term care staffing crisis across the country.

As many providers know, under current federal law, nursing homes that are surveyed and assessed a CMP above a certain level automatically lose their authority to train CNAs for a full two years. The Ensuring Seniors’ Access to Quality Care Act would allow nursing homes to reinstate their training programs provided any relevant deficiencies cited in the survey are corrected; the deficiencies did not result in immediate risk to resident safety or arise as a result of resident harm from abuse or neglect; and the nursing home has not received a repeat deficiency related to resident harm in the past two years. This bill would also provide nursing home operators with access to the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) – a national criminal background check system – to give employers a greater ability to screen potential candidates.

CNAs provide essential care in nursing homes nationwide, and we need strong training programs to ensure older adults can access much-needed 24/7 care. LeadingAge is continuing to work with lawmakers to get a companion bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives and see this legislation passed by Congress and signed into law.