News
Nursing homes sue to block staffing mandate
Photo: Commercial by Catherine Falls/Getty Images
The American Health Care Association and other groups representing nursing homes filed a lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services to block personnel mandates.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court for the Northern District of Texas on Thursday by the American Health Care Association, Texas Health Care Association, Arbrook Plaza, Booker Hospital District and Harbor Lakes Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.
On May 10, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a rule imposing minimum staffing requirements in nursing homes that plaintiffs call “onerous.”
The rule exceeds CMS’s legal authority and creates impossible-to-enforce standards that will harm thousands of nursing homes and the vulnerable Americans they serve, the lawsuit claims.
The groups want the court to overturn the rule.
WHY DOES IT MATTER
During COVID-19, attention has been drawn to the number of nursing home residents who have lost their lives during the pandemic. CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said nursing home residents and staff accounted for about a quarter of all Deaths from covid-19 in the country.
President Biden called on Medicare to do more. In his 2022 State of the Union address, Biden said he wanted Medicare to set higher standards for nursing homes. CMS responded with a final rule on personnel released last month.
The final rule replaces a nursing home directive to employ an RN for eight consecutive hours, seven days a week, with the CMS mandate to have an RN on site 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Requires all facilities nationwide to provide total nursing staffing of at least 3.48 hours per resident per day, including RN staffing of at least 0.55 hours per resident per day and nursing assistant staffing of at least 2.45 hours per resident per day.
THE BIGGEST TREND
Decades ago, Congress established staffing mandates for nursing homes: that they must utilize the services of a registered nurse for at least eight consecutive hours a day, seven days a week; and that the nursing home must provide licensed nursing services 24 hours a day, the lawsuit states.
Over the years, Congress considered other regulations but declined to adopt those proposals. Instead, lawmakers concluded that nursing home staffing should be determined flexibly based on each facility’s specific needs, the lawsuit states.
Send an email to the writer: SMorse@himss.org