Two Democratic lawmakers sharply criticized opposition by two national organizations to new minimum staffing requirements in nearly all U.S. nursing homes, calling it “sabotage.”
“We are writing about the brazen attempt by the American Health Care Association, the National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) and LeadingAge to block a long-delayed CMS rule that would improve access to quality care for millions of seniors living in nursing homes,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) said. I wrote a letter AHCA/NCAL President and CEO Mark Parkinson and LeadingAge President and CEO Katie Smith Sloan spoke exclusively to The Hill.
“Your attempt to overturn this rule makes a mockery of your claim of an unwavering dedication to providing quality care solutions to people who are frail, elderly or disabled, and this misguided effort must be stopped,” the lawmakers added.
Medicare- and Medicaid-certified facilities care for about 1.2 million older Americans, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the agency that oversees the U.S. health insurance system. Passed the final rule In April, more than 97% of nursing home residents in the U.S. were in senior care facilities, the report said. Litigation A lawsuit challenging the rule was filed in May.
AHCA/NCAL, which represents 14,000 nursing home and assisted living providers, and LeadingAge, which represents thousands of not-for-profit providers, are both plaintiffs in the suit.
Supporters of the new rules, which set minimum staff-to-patient ratios and require a registered nurse to be on-site 24 hours a day, seven days a week, argue they are needed to improve safety and quality in nursing homes at a time when aging baby boomers are beginning to strain the nursing home system.
However, AHCA/NCAL, the Texas Medical Association, and some nursing homes in Texas Sued In late May, the agency notified the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that the move exceeded its statutory authority and created “unattainable standards” that could force thousands of facilities to close or reduce capacity.
Leading Age Participated The lawsuit was filed on June 18th.
“We oppose this mandate because it fails to recognize the interdependence of funding, care, staffing and quality. This mandate will undoubtedly impact the ability of other nursing home facilities, including home health and hospice, to provide care and services to our nursing home residents as well as theirs,” Smith Sloan said at the time.
The nursing home staffing rule would require facilities to hire an additional 102,000 nurses and nursing assistants to comply with the final rule, at an estimated cost of $6.5 billion per year. analysis By A.H.C.A.
data Staffing levels in nursing homes and senior housing fell sharply during the pandemic and, while they have improved steadily, are still 96,500 lower than in January 2020, according to a report released by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
But in their new letter, Warren and Schakowsky accused the industry of opposing the rules out of “greed” rather than “acting in the best interests of residents.”
“The industry’s argument that nursing homes cannot afford to hire more nurses is debunked by a recent investigation by our office, which found that for-profit nursing homes are pocketing hundreds of millions of dollars through high executive compensation, huge dividends and massive stock buybacks,” they wrote.
Parliamentary Office investigation The investigation found that the organizations “paid out approximately $650 million in stock buybacks, dividends and executive and shareholder salaries while claiming they could not afford to comply with the rules.”
A LeadingAge spokesperson said in a statement to The Hill, “We are reviewing the letter from Senators Warren and Schakowsky regarding our position on nursing home staffing mandates. While we oppose the final rule, we support the Biden Administration’s goal of ensuring access to quality nursing home care for seniors and their families. Mandates are the wrong approach.”
The Hill has reached out to AHCA for comment.
While Warren and Schakowsky argue there is “no legitimate reason to oppose this rule,” their position is not universal in Congress, or even within their party.
Senator James Lankford (R-Okla.) Introduced A Congressional Review Bill resolution supported by AHCA and LeadingAge earlier this month could overturn the rule, and his statement comes after Industry criticism of the “uniform requirements” imposed by this regulation.
This resolution was adopted by 35 Co-Sponsor They include Sens. Joe Manchin, D-Ind., and Jon Tester, D-Mont.
Updated at 9:30 a.m. ET.
