Two Democratic members of Congress sharply criticized two national organizations' opposition to new minimum staffing requirements at virtually every nursing home in the United States, calling it an attempt at “sabotage.”
“We report on the brazen efforts by the American Health Care Association, the National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL), and LeadingAge to sabotage a long-awaited CMS rule that would help millions of seniors in nursing homes receive better quality care,” 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 overturn this rule make a mockery of your claim that you have an 'unwavering… commitment to providing quality healthcare solutions for people who are frail, elderly or living with disabilities', and you should put an end to it to these misguided efforts. ,” the lawmakers added.
According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the agency that oversees Medicare- and Medicaid-certified facilities, nearly 1.2 million older Americans are in care. the final rule adopted in April. They also account for more than 97 percent of U.S. nursing homes, according to a court case filed an objection to the rule in May.
AHCA/NCAL, which represents 14,000 nursing homes and assisted living providers, and LeadingAge, which represents thousands of nonprofits, are both plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
Supporters of the new rule, which sets a minimum staffing level per patient and requires a registered nurse on site 24 hours a day, seven days a week, is needed to improve the safety and quality of nursing homes at a time when the aging baby boom generation is starting to put increasing pressure on the nursing home system.
But the AHCA/NCAL, the Texas Health Care Association and several health care organizations in Texas accused the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in late May, arguing that it had exceeded the agency's legal authority and created an “impossible standard” that would force thousands of facilities to close or reduce their capacity.
LeadingAge joined the trial on June 18.
“We oppose this mandate because it fails to recognize the interdependence of financing, care, staffing, and quality; it will undoubtedly impact the ability of our nursing home members, as well as those in other care settings, including home health and hospice, to provide care and services,” Smith Sloan said at the time.
The nursing home staffing rule would require facilities to hire an additional 102,000 nurses and nursing aids to comply with the final rule, which one estimate would cost $6.5 billion per year. analysis by the AHCA.
Facts A release from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis shows that nursing home and assisted living staffing levels have plummeted during the pandemic. While the numbers have steadily improved, they are still 96,500 fewer staff members than they were in January 2020.
However, Warren and Schakowsky accused the industry in their new letter of opposing the rule out of “greed” rather than “acting in the best interests of its residents.”
“Industry claims that nursing homes can’t afford to hire more nurses are undermined by a recent investigation by our offices that found for-profit nursing homes have pocketed hundreds of millions of dollars through skyrocketing executive salaries, huge dividends and large stock buybacks,” they wrote.
The congressional offices research found that the organizations paid “nearly $650 million in stock buybacks, dividends and salaries to their directors and shareholders while claiming they could not afford to comply.”
The Hill has reached out to both the AHCA and LeadingAge for comment.
While Warren and Schakowsky argue that there is “no justifiable reason to oppose this rule,” their position is not universal on the Hill or even within their party.
Senator James Lankford (R-Okla.) introduced a Congressional Review Act resolution, sponsored earlier this month by the AHCA and LeadingAge, that could overturn the rule, and his statement reflected the criticism from the industry of the “one-size-fits-all requirements” that the rule would impose.
The resolution received 35 votes co-sponsors including Sens. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.).
