Two Democratic members of Congress have sharply criticized two national organizations’ opposition to new minimum staffing requirements at virtually all nursing homes in the United States, calling it an attempt at “sabotage.”
“We are writing about the brazen attempts by the American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) and LeadingAge to sabotage a long-awaited CMS rule that would help millions of seniors living in nursing homes receive nursing home care. better quality,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) wrote a letter to AHCA/NCAL President and CEO Mark Parkinson and LeadingAge President and CEO Katie Smith Sloan, shared exclusively with The Hill.
“Your attempts to reverse this rule make a mockery of your claim that you have an ‘unwavering dedication to providing quality care solutions for people who are frail, elderly, or living with disabilities,’ and you should put an end to these misguided efforts,” they added the legislators.
Medicare and Medicaid-certified facilities serve nearly 1.2 million older Americans, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the agency that passed the final rule in April. They also make up more than 97% of U.S. nursing homes, according to one study lawsuit filed in May challenging the rule.
AHCA/NCAL, which represents 14,000 nursing homes and assisted living providers, and LeadingAge, which represents thousands of nonprofit service providers, are both plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
Proponents of the new rule, which establishes a minimum staff-to-patient ratio and requires a registered nurse to be on site 24/7, are needed to improve the safety and quality of nursing homes at a time in which aging Baby Boomers are beginning to put pressure on the nursing home system.
But AHCA/NCAL, the Texas Health Care Association and several Texas health centers processed the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in late May, arguing that it exceeded the agency’s statutory authority and created an “unenforceable standard” that would force thousands of facilities to close or reduce capacity.
Main age joined the process on June 18.
“We oppose this mandate because it does not recognize the interdependence of funding, care, staffing and quality; will undoubtedly impact the ability of members of our nursing homes, as well as those in other care settings, including home health care and hospice, to provide care and services,” Smith Sloan said at the time.
The nursing home staffing rule would require facilities to hire 102,000 additional nurses and nursing assistants to comply with the final rule, which would cost about $6.5 billion a year, according to one study. analysis by AHCA.
Data published by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis showed that nursing home and assisted living staff numbers have plummeted during the pandemic, and while they have steadily improved, there are still 96,500 fewer employees than there were in January 2020.
But Warren and Schakowsky, in their new letter, accused the industry of opposing the rule out of “greed” rather than “acting in the best interests of its residents.”
“Industry claims that nursing homes cannot afford to hire more nurses are undermined by a recent investigation by our offices, which found that for-profit nursing homes have been stuffing hundreds of millions of dollars into their pockets with sky-high executive salaries and huge dividends. and large share repurchases,” they wrote.
Congressional offices investigation found that the organizations “paid nearly $650 million in share buybacks, dividends, and salaries to their executives and shareholders, all the while claiming they were unable to comply.”
The Hill has reached out to AHCA and LeadingAge for comment.
Although Warren and Schakowsky argue that “there is no justifiable 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 Act resolution supported by AHCA and LeadingAge earlier this month that could overturn the rule, and his statement echoed the industry criticism of the “one-size-fits-all requirements” the rule would impose.
The resolution got 35 co-sponsors including Senators Joe Manchin (IW.Va.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.).
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
