Vice President Harris Announces Final Rules on Minimum Nursing Home Staffing Standards

From the AFL-CIO:

Top Cut:

Vice President Kamala Harris announced on Monday final rules setting minimum staffing requirements at federally funded nursing homes and mandating that a certain amount of the taxpayer dollars they receive go toward wages for care workers.

Why It Matters:

This is the first time the federal government is requiring staffing minimums for nursing homes that accept payments from Medicare and Medicaid—which nearly every single one does. The rule comes after the COVID-19 pandemic claimed the lives of more than 167,000 nursing home residents in the United States, exposing how deadly and dangerous understaffing can be in facilities caring for older and disabled Americans. Harris said this overdue change will mean more staff on site to care for residents, fewer emergency room visits, and more peace of mind for caregivers and families. In addition to requiring more staff, the Biden administration is regulating how federal health care dollars are spent, requiring more of that money go to care worker wages in an effort to reduce high turnover rates and grow the industry workforce. Currently, Medicaid pays $125 billion annually to home health care companies, but those facilities haven’t previously been required to report on how they were spending the money.

“It is about time that we start to recognize your value and pay you accordingly and give you the structure and support that you deserve,” Harris told a group of care workers during a roundtable in Wisconsin after the announcement. “This is about dignity, and it’s about dignity that we as a society owe to those in particular who care for the least of these.”