The Biden administration finalized its controversial nursing home staffing mandate Monday, increasing the number of care hours operators must provide residents.
Nursing homes will be required to provide 3.48 hours of care per resident, per day, according to a statement from the White House. That is an increase from 3.00 hours proposed in a draft last year. Registered nurses will provide .55 hours of care and nurses aides will provide 2.45 hours of care. The rule also requires nursing homes to have a registered nurse onsite 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Update: Nursing homes blast higher staffing minimums
The mandate comes more than two years after President Joe Biden vowed to set a national staffing minimum for nursing homes during his State of the Union address in 2022. CMS announced a proposed rule last September, sparking backlash from nursing home operators who said it was unreasonable in the midst of a labor shortage and from patient advocates who said the regulation wasn’t tough enough.
The staffing minimum will be phased in, giving operators in rural areas longer to meet the requirements. The White House also said there will be limited and temporary flexibilities for nursing homes in areas with workforce shortages, provided the facilities can prove they made a good faith effort to hire staff.
"While it may be well intentioned, the federal staffing mandate is an unreasonable standard that only threatens to shut down more nursing homes, displace hundreds of thousands of residents, and restrict seniors’ access to care," said association President and CEO Mark Parkinson.
The staffing ratio has gotten blowback on Capitol Hill, as well. Last month, the House Ways and Means Committee weighed in on the controversial regulation by advancing the Protecting American Seniors’ Access to Care Act of 2023, which would bar CMS from finalizing the rule. Last week, members of the Senate Aging Committee expressed concerns during a hearing that staffing minimums could force nursing homes to close, limiting access to care for some older adults.
