May 3, 2024 Washington, DC — With the regulatory clock ticking on nursing home compliance following the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Servicesâ (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 withânot disparagingâproviders to succeed in bringing more registered nurses and nurse aides to long-term care.Â
In a letter to President Biden, Sloan called out the administrationâs mischaracterization of aging services providers and repeated incendiary descriptions of care delivered in nursing homes as the White House promoted the final ruleâs rollout.
The White Houseâs resurfacing of all-nursing-homes-as-bad-actors messaging, used in February 2022 and in the final ruleâs April 22 âFact Sheetâ, 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 neglectfulâno one to help residents when they fall, comfort them when lonely, or serve them meals on timeâand suggested widespread disregard by nursing home management for the staff who do the lionâs 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.
âTo be clear: bad actors must be stoppedâand, as you know, nursing homes must follow federal and state requirements to protect residentsâ 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,â she wrote, pointing out that over one-third of homes are the highest performers, based on scores derived from the governmentâs own measures. Americaâs 15,000 nursing homes are not all the same.
âOur members take seriously their responsibility to residents, families, the broader community — as well as to state and federal regulators,â Sloan added, noting that since the 2022 release of the White Houseâs Action Plan for Nursing Home Reform, LeadingAge has repeatedly expressed its alignment with the Presidentâs position: ensuring older adults and families can receive quality care in nursing homes is a shared goal. âWe know,â Sloan said, âas you do, that quality care and staffing are tightly connected.â Â
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 providersâ ability to comply with the mandate.Â
âThis is no time to mislead the public and discourage potential employees from joining our ranks,â Sloan continued. â…your administrationâs inaccurate framing of all providers and our sector threatens to undermine effortsâincluding the $75 million recruitment campaign promised by CMS to encourage more nurses to work in nursing homesâto achieve the shared goal of bringing new staff to the field.âÂ
She closed with an entreaty: âRather than disparage us, partner with us. Visit our communities ⊠witness, first-hand, the innovations theyâve developed to navigate their workforce challenges. Hear what needs to be done to solve them. Thereâs much to be done. Letâs work together to build a stronger and enticing pathway to aging services for nurses and nursing assistants.â