The federal government finalized a new rule in April that requires nursing homes in Florida and nationwide to comply with new staffing requirements.
The rule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is part of the Biden administration's effort to reform nursing homes. The chief requirement: nursing homes must have enough staff to provide each patient with 3.48 hours of direct care every day.
Nursing home companies in Florida and across the country have raised concerns that the mandate will cause financial strains. Some congressional lawmakers support measures to weaken or cancel the new requirements.
The AARP, a nonprofit organization that advocates for people 50 and older, has launched a lobbying campaign to press Congress to support the CMS mandate. AARP is urging its members to call their representatives in Congress and will launch an online ad campaign aimed at lawmakers not to lower staffing standards.
At a virtual press conference Friday, Megan O'Reilly, the AARP government affairs vice president for health and family, told reporters that an AARP billboard truck will circle Capitol Hill to remind lawmakers why the nursing staffing rule is so needed.
AARP and others say nursing homes should not be accepting more residents without enough staff.
"It is shameful that nursing homes receiving taxpayer dollars through Medicare and Medicaid haven't been required to provide adequate care through specific federal minimum staffing standards until now," O'Reilly said.
Mark Miller, ombudsman director with Legal Counsel for the Elderly, who also joined Friday’s press conference, said staffing is the most important contributor to quality care.
"America's most vulnerable seniors who live in nursing homes deserve better than subpar conditions caused by understaffing, sitting in soiled clothes, going hungry, developing bed sores as they are repositioned less frequently," Miller said.
Nursing homes will have some years to comply with the new standards.
For example, a requirement that nursing homes have a registered nurse on site around the clock has a May 2026 deadline for urban nursing homes, while rural facilities will have an additional year to comply.
The Florida Health Care Association estimates that companies will need to hire nearly 3,487 full-time employees to meet the new standards.
Nursing home companies in Florida have said they already struggle to hire enough nurses.
“At a time when Florida’s long-term care profession is working tirelessly to overcome the labor challenges, this impossible and unfunded mandate will make it harder to recruit long-term care workers and ensure Florida seniors have access to the specialized and person-centered services they need," wrote Emmett Reed, CEO of the Florida Health Care Association, in a statement to WLRN.
According to health policy researchers at KFF, a nonprofit organization focused on health policy research, polling and journalism, more than 70% of facilities in Florida meet the 3.48 hours of daily care requirement.
CMS has announced $75 million it expects to use in incentives that may help address the long-term care workforce challenges, like offering scholarships and tuition reimbursement for people to enter careers in nursing homes.
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