October 21, 2022 Washington, DC — Statement from Katie Smith Sloan, president and CEO, LeadingAge, the association of nonprofit, mission-driven providers of aging services, including nursing homes, on today’s announcement from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on oversight of poor-performing nursing homes:

“Our nonprofit, mission-driven nursing home members’ top priority is providing quality care to residents. We reiterate our longstanding support of CMS’ initiatives to improve care at under-performing nursing homes; we agree that those who do not demonstrate progress should close. 

At the same time, we continue to emphasize the need for CMS and all stakeholders to prioritize workforce. Staffing goes hand in hand with quality care. As we wrote to President Biden on March 11, 2022, we believe that it is time to take an all of government approach to finding solutions that will address the chronic staffing challenges nursing homes and other providers of care to older adults and families continue to navigate. Identifying, funding and implementing programs that bring more qualified staff to nursing homes, provide training and career ladders and lattices, are critical to ensuring that older adults and their families can access quality care.”

We represent more than 5,000 nonprofit aging services providers and other mission-minded organizations that touch millions of lives every day. Alongside our members and 38 state partners, we use applied research, advocacy, education, and community-building to make America a better place to grow old. Our membership, which now includes the providers of the Visiting Nurse Associations of America, encompasses the continuum of services for people as they age, including those with disabilities. We bring together the most inventive minds in the field to lead and innovate solutions that support older adults wherever they call home. For more information visit leadingage.org.