Blog
Federal nursing home staffing mandate will create care crisis
For Immediate Release
April 22, 2024
The Georgia Health Care Association (GHCA) strongly opposes the final nursing home staffing mandate announced today by the Biden Administration, saying the flawed rule will create a care crisis and reduce access to much-needed skilled nursing services for Georgia's seniors.
“We are extremely disappointed that the Biden Administration is moving forward with an unfunded federal staffing mandate that is unaffordable, unattainable and unhelpful to the people who need nursing home care,” said Chris Downing, the President and CEO of GHCA. “Experts and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have joined our industry in sounding the alarm on the harmful consequences of a federal staffing mandate amid an ongoing labor crisis, and it is the vulnerable individuals we care for who will bear the brunt of those consequences when they cannot find the care they need. For the sake of the people we serve and who will need our services in the future, Congress must take action to reverse this disastrous policy.”
Georgia has some of the lowest employed RN to population ratios in the country. Nursing homes are forced to compete with hospitals and other healthcare settings for a dwindling pool of nurses, and many homes that have not been able to find staff have been forced to limit admissions or even close full wings, reducing access to care for seniors in their area. An unfunded staffing mandate will be impossible to meet and further restrict access to nursing home care across the state, especially in rural areas where there are already fewer care options. This is particularly concerning for Georgia, as approximately half of the state's nursing homes are rural facilities.
"This rule requires homes to hire more caregivers at a time when the state of Georgia already has a severe healthcare workforce shortage, particularly in the area of nursing," Downing said. "Tens of thousands of nurses are needed simply to meet current demand. The federal government's own study found that these mandates won't improve the quality of care, and we know that nursing homes that cannot meet these requirements will be forced to reduce the number of beds they offer or maybe close their doors completely. This will cause a domino effect, overwhelming our entire health care system and putting thousands of seniors in our state at risk of being displaced.
“Georgia's nursing homes do an excellent job taking care of their residents, and federal regulations that are detached from reality will do serious harm to all involved. We urge Members of Congress to step up and support the bipartisan Protecting America's Seniors' Access to Care Act, which will prevent CMS from enforcing this unfunded and flawed mandate. We will continue to fight for more common-sense solutions and do everything we can to preserve access to care for Georgia's seniors.”
For further information please contact:
Devon Barill, Director of Communications
Georgia Health Care Association
dbarill@ghca.info
(678) 783-1703