Those in the nursing home sector are worried a potential staffing mandate imposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services could be the ruination of a reeling sector. However, there is an argument to be made that such a move by CMS would be its own ruination. Let me explain.

From the provider perspective, the COVID-19 pandemic’s “Great Resignation” workforce realignment has already made staffing extraordinarily challenging. As of preliminary figures last month, Bureau of Labor Statistics data found over 311,000 fewer workers in “nursing and residential care facilities” than in March 2020, when the pandemic began to fully unleash its cruelty upon long-term care.

It is not for lack of trying on providers’ part. An accounting firm’s survey found the average wage costs for New Hampshire nursing homes rose 19.53% from 2019-21, excluding contract labor, or 23.66% including contract labor. And wages, and contract labor costs, have gone up since. The call for “$15 Now” is an anachronism in New Hampshire when it comes to licensed nursing assistants, as you will be making more than that, even though the minimum wage is the same as that set federally ($7.25 an hour). Yet you still cannot find licensed staff without resorting to agencies.