Health
Nursing Home Staffing Mandates to Further Strain Troubled Sector
- Rule comes amid labor shortages, uptick in payment defaults
- High death rates during Covid highlighted need for better care
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A proposed federal rule that would establish staffing requirements at nursing homes across the US could push the already-troubled sector further into distress, even as the pandemic highlighted their failings.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said that “chronic under-staffing remains a concern,” in a Sept. 1 statement outlining the proposed rule, which includes requiring a registered nurse onsite 24 hours a day, seven days a week. About 75% of US facilities would need to make adjustments under the new rule, CMS said. Nursing homes could receive a hardship extension “in limited circumstances.”