AHA files brief challenging CMS’ minimum staffing rule for nursing homes

The AHA Oct. 24 filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, in a case challenging the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' minimum staffing mandate for nursing homes. CMS' new rule requires all nursing homes to have an RN onsite and available to provide direct resident care 24/7. Other requirements of the rule include minimum hours per day: 0.55 hours for RNs, 2.45 hours for nursing assistants and 3.48 hours for total nurse staffing. AHA opposes the mandate, arguing that it "is not just an overly simplistic and costly solution to the nursing shortage; it is no solution at all."  
  
"CMS’s modest characterization of the mandate as supplying a 'minimum baseline' applicable to every facility is belied by the data: 79% of long-term-care facilities will need to increase staff above current levels to meet the new thresholds, which exceed the existing requirements in 'nearly all States,'" AHA wrote. "Its unfunded, across-the-board mandate not only is incapable of mitigating the nursing shortage but also is counterproductive. Nursing homes may be forced to reach compliance by increasing demands on their existing staff (fueling additional burnout), or hiring more staff from a limited labor pool (reducing the availability of qualified staff for all healthcare providers)." 

The AHA last year urged CMS not to finalize the mandate but instead develop more patient- and workforce-centered approaches focused on ensuring a continual process of safe staffing in nursing facilities.