Nursing home resident advocacy groups and family members of residents were generally strongly supportive of establishing a minimum staffing requirement, while other industry and provider groups expressed significant concern. Industry associations and nursing home resident advocates provided divergent views on the establishment of minimum staffing levels. The public comment period closed on June 10, 2022, and CMS received over 3,000 comments from a variety of interested parties including advocacy groups long-term care ombudsmen industry associations (providers) labor unions and organizations nursing home staff and administrators industry experts and other researchers family members, and caretakers of nursing home residents. This RFI was a first step to facilitate a holistic approach to advancing future changes in these areas. The feedback received has and will be used to inform the research study design and proposals for minimum direct care staffing requirements in nursing homes in 2023 rulemaking. What did CMS learn from the Request for Information? The agency initially published a Request for Information (RFI) soliciting public comments on minimum staffing requirements in April 2022, within the Fiscal Year 2023 Skilled Nursing Facility Prospective Payment System Proposed Rule. For that reason, CMS believes it essential to patient safety that it conduct the new rulemaking to establish more specific, detailed, and quantitative minimum staffing requirements. Some States may also have minimum staffing requirements for nursing homes.ĭespite these existing requirements, understaffing continues to be a concern. In determining what 24-hour services provide “sufficient” staff-meaning registered nurses (RNs), licensed practical and vocational nurses (LPNs and LVNs), and certified nurse aides (CNAs)-facilities must account for individual resident assessments and plans of care, in addition to the facility assessment.ĬMS currently posts staffing data for all facilities on the Care Compare website, including resident census data and data on the hours of care provided per resident per day. Additionally, regulations specify that nursing homes are required to conduct an annual facility assessment, which considers resident needs and staff ability to provide care. #STAFFING DATA CMS NURSING HOME COMPARE PROFESSIONAL#Facilities will be held accountable if they fail to meet this standard.Īre there federal nursing home staffing standards currently in place? Federal law currently requires Medicare and Medicaid-certified nursing homes to provide 24-hour licensed nursing services, which are “sufficient to meet nursing needs of residents” and must use the services of a registered professional nurse at least 8 consecutive hours a day, seven days a week. The information obtained through these efforts will inform future proposed rulemaking on minimum staffing requirements, which CMS plans to issue in Spring 2023. This effort includes issuing a Request for Information (which occurred earlier this year as a part of the Fiscal Year 2023 Skilled Nursing Facility Prospective Payment System Proposed Rule ) and conducting a new study. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has launched a multi-faceted approach aimed at determining the minimum level and type of staffing needed to enable safe and quality care in nursing homes. The COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) has highlighted and exacerbated the long-standing staffing challenges experienced in many facilities, creating an urgent need to address this issue for the well-being of all individuals residing in our nation’s federally certified nursing homes and the workers who care for them. Evidence has shown that adequate staffing is closely linked to the quality of care residents receive. One key initiative within the President’s strategy is to establish new minimum staffing requirements so every nursing home has sufficient staff who are adequately trained to provide the safe and quality care residents need. In February 2022, President Biden announced a comprehensive set of reforms to improve the safety and quality of nursing home care, hold nursing homes accountable for the care they provide, and make the quality of care and facility ownership more transparent so that potential residents and their loved ones can make informed care choices. #STAFFING DATA CMS NURSING HOME COMPARE REGISTRATION#The registration link for this webinar, limited to 3,000 participants – register early, is found towards the end of the Press Release beneath What are the next steps and how can I get involved? Note that there is an upcoming Augwebinar to provide information on the study and solicit additional stakeholder input on minimum staffing requirements. Also posted this morning (August 22, 2022), this Press Release.
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