News Digest: States also pursuing minimum staffing policies While CMS considers implementing a minimum staffing rule for Medicare (ultimately issued September, 2023), a number of state legislatures have taken up the responsibility to ensure...

Only 5 States Meet Nurse Staff Hour Requirements of Potential Minimum Staffing Mandate for Nursing HomesAs many skilled nursing facilities are falling short of expected federal requirements for adequate nursing staff, the shortage has led to a...

Providers in states from Virginia to New York are pushing back on the requirements they say threaten their ability to provide the best care for residents. The Georgia Health Care Association (GHCA) opposes implementing a “one size fits all” approach to regulating its providers’ staffing levels.

While establishing stronger staffing standards for nursing homes continues to be a top priority in the minds of federal leaders, few in the industry see it as a viable or sustainable path forward.

Unable to sustain unfunded mandates, senior living advocate and policy expert Brian Perry thinks tying increased reimbursement on a state-by-state level is a great “first step” but fixing the problem at the macro level is also needed.

Nonprofit New York nursing homes are taking action against the state in a push to overturn “illegal and unconstitutional” policies that establish a minimum staffing requirement and spending mandates for providers.

LeadingAge New York, leading a group of 80 nonprofit and public nursing homes, on Monday filed a lawsuit against the state over the two statutes being enacted during the COVID-19 public health emergency.

State staffing minimum laws are colliding with spiking agency costs, with some facilities forced to continue or increase the use of expensive temporary staff to meet state requirements.

The dissonance is especially felt in states like New York, which has the largest Medicaid reimbursement shortfall in the nation, according to Stephen Hanse, president and CEO of the New York State Health Facilities Association (NYSHFA).

Despite continuing nursing home workforce shortages across the country, some states continue to push for mandated minimum staffing hours – Virginia’s legislature was the latest to introduce such proposals, in January.

We remind nursing home members that Payroll-Based Journal (PBJ) data submissions covering Jan. 1st through March 31st must be finalized with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) by May 15th. PBJ submissions have been the basis for calculating the staffing domain of the Five-Star Quality Rating System for several years, and they are now being used to compute staff turnover and weekend staffing rates currently being displayed on Nursing Home Compare. As of July of this year, CMS expects to incorporate these measures into the Five-Star calculation.