CMS Requires Nursing Homes to Report Staffing Data to Develop a Rating System
The nursing home industry lost at least 420,000 jobs since the pandemic began — a return to the size the workforce was in 2007.
As of January, nursing homes are now required to report staffing turnover and weekend staffing levels to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
To boost staffing levels, Congress is being urged by nonprofit providers to give $2,000 in relief payments to 4.6 million aging service providers.
A letter signed by hundreds of House members asks the White House COVID-19 Response Team to investigate anticompetitive activity in nursing homes, based on claims that nurse staffing agencies are inflating prices and taking 40% or more of the amount charged to hospitals as profit.
A newly proposed law, The Nursing Home Improvement and Accountability Act of 2021, presented by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., along with other senators, aims to improve staffing standards for nursing homes, but has stalled out with the Build Back Better legislation.
In the coming months, CMS will work to collect the nursing home staffing data and develop a quality rating system for consumers by July 2022.
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