SAN DIEGO — The nation's largest nursing home association is warning of negative impacts for the elderly, hidden in the Biden administration's Build Back Better plan.
The bill requires minimum staffing levels that could force many nursing homes to shut down, a nursing home trade association warned.
“If these provisions actually became law we believe that thousands, if not most, of the skilled nursing facilities in the United States would close,” said Mark Parkinson, CEO of the American Health Care Association, which advocates for nursing home administrators.
Under current law, nursing homes need to have a registered nurse on staff at least eight hours per day. The Biden administration's Build Back Better plan would change that requirement to 24 hours a day. The bill also would require minimum staffing levels for skilled nursing facilities, following a mandated staffing study.
“The workers are simply not there. It's one thing to mandate that we have a certain amount of employees, but it's completely unrealistic to do so if the employees are not there to hire,” said Peterson.
Peterson said there is a nationwide staffing shortage at nursing homes. Additionally, the Build Back Better plan offers no new funding to help pay for the new mandates, he said.
“It's nice and sounds terrific to say let's have these mandatory minimum staffing levels, but there are no Medicaid funds or Medicare funds or any other funding in the Build Back Better bill to pay for this,” Peterson said.
Biden’s plan would require nursing homes to hire an additional 150,000 workers nationwide, including 21,000 registered nurses, at a time when registered nurses are nearly impossible to find, according to Phil Fogg, who runs nursing homes in Oregon.
“In august of last year we had 46 [registered nurse] position openings. Today, we've got 121. So, we've got a nearly 200% increase in those open positions,” said Fogg.
Patient advocates said the Biden administration changes are long overdue and, if passed by congress, would lead to safer conditions in nursing homes. And, part of the Build Back Better plan does aim to increase the number of nurses in the workforce to address staffing shortages.
“Our administration's goal here is to address the urgent shortage of doctors, nurses and behavioral health providers in both urban and rural areas. Through scholarships and loan repayment, we will support over 22,000 providers,” Vice President Kamala Harris said on Monday.
The Build Back Better plan is not set in stone and changes are likely before the bill goes to a vote in the U.S. Senate.
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