February 29, 2024 Washington, DC — A statement from Katie Smith Sloan, president and CEO, LeadingAge, the association of nonprofit, mission driven aging services providers, including nursing homes, reacting to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) report, Lessons Learned During the Pandemic Can Help Improve Care in Nursing Homes:

“The OIG report says more must be done to strengthen nursing homes as they face difficult and entrenched problems—and we agree. The report makes common sense recommendations for action by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). 

A strong, qualified workforce is a critical component of ensuring quality care for older adults living in nursing homes, and as the report acknowledges, nursing homes’ staffing challenges are massive, complex and chronic. OIG’s statement that the ongoing workforce crisis cannot be solved by CMS alone echoes our longstanding advocacy that the administration address the situation with an all-of-government approach. Creative problem-solving involving federal agencies (including but not limited to CMS), states, the sector is, as OIG says, critical. 

Staffing mandates are not the answer. Implementing them as CMS proposes is not feasible due to the lack of potential hires and the massive cost—anywhere from $4 billion to $7 billion in the first year alone. 

We’ve long said that CMS’ punitive regulatory approach is arcane and broken—so the report’s call for collaboration between CMS and nursing homes and for the agency to facilitate sharing of strategies and information to help providers improve care is a welcome affirmation. 

CMS should heed the report’s recommendations—but our leaders cannot stop there. We urge the Administration to focus on funding an array of staffing solutions across the government. Of course, Congress has a role to play too. Legislative solutions are needed. Meaningful funding will yield better jobs, and better jobs will yield greater access to quality care.”