AHA submits brief challenging CMS’s minimum staffing rule for nursing homes

AHA filed a friend of the court suit on October 24 brief information There is a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas challenging the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ minimum staffing mandate for nursing homes. CMS’s new rule requires all nursing homes to have an RN on-site and be available to provide direct resident care 24/7. Other requirements of the rule include minimum working hours per day: 0.55 hours for assistants, 2.45 hours for nursing assistants, and 3.48 hours for the total nursing staff. The AHA opposes this mandate, arguing that it “is not just an overly simple and costly solution to the nursing shortage, it is not a solution at all.”

“CMS’s modest mandate to provide an applicable ‘minimum baseline’ for every facility is belied by the data: 79% of long-term care facilities will need to increase staffing above current levels to meet new thresholds, AHA says, exceeding current requirements in “nearly all states.” “Unfunded, blanket authorization is not only insufficient to reduce the nursing shortage, it is also counterproductive,” he wrote. Nursing homes may be forced to adapt by increasing demands on their existing staff (fueling additional burnout) or by hiring more staff. A limited labor pool (reducing the availability of qualified personnel for all healthcare providers).”

AHA, last year persistently CMS needs to not finish the task but instead develop more patient- and workforce-centered approaches that focus on ensuring a continuous process of safe staffing in care facilities.