AARP Fights Challenge to New Nursing Home Staffing Standards

AARP is urging Congress to reject efforts to overturn new minimum staffing standards for nursing homes. A bill that would rescind the requirements advanced in the U.S. House Wednesday.

“Every American, especially our most vulnerable seniors, have a right to live in dignity,” wrote Bill Sweeney, AARP senior vice president of government affairs, in a Sept. 17 letter to the leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which took up the measure in a hearing Wednesday. “Poorly staffed nursing homes can have a devastating impact on residents and their families.”

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In April, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services finalized the first-ever national staffing standards for federally funded nursing homes. The changes, which AARP championed, were first proposed in September and apply to most of the nation’s 15,000 nursing homes. They come in response to concerns about the adequacy of care in nursing homes as well as about 188,000 nursing home resident deaths since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, proposed measures in the House and Senate would block the rule from taking effect. The repeal effort follows complaints from the nursing home industry that the standards would be difficult to meet because of a nursing workforce shortage.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 21-18 Wednesday in favor of advancing a resolution to roll back the standards. 

AARP has vowed to fight to protect the staffing requirements. More than 276,000 AARP activists flooded lawmakers with emails this week urging them to keep the standards in place. 

Improved staffing required

The rule requires nursing homes to provide the staffing equivalent of at least 3.48 hours of nursing care per resident per day. That includes 0.55 hours of care from a registered nurse and 2.45 hours of care from a nurse’s aide each day. It also calls for a registered nurse on-site around the clock, seven days a week, to provide skilled care.