Ricketts: CMS Nurse Staffing Rule Would “Limit Access to Critical Care for Seniors”
May 8, 2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE) condemned a rule from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) mandating burdensome new minimum staffing standards for long-term care facilities. The rule would exacerbate the current historic staffing shortages in rural care facilities, pushing many to close. Ricketts made the comments while on a conference call with Nebraska media.
“Look, we all want to make sure our seniors have the best standard of care. But this one-size-fits-all mandate actually does the opposite of that,” Ricketts said. “Instead of helping Nebraska seniors, this rule would cause closures of numerous facilities across our state. It would limit access to critical care for Nebraska seniors. That’s wrong.”
“As a member of the Special Committee on Aging, I will do everything in my power to stop this burdensome federal rule from going into place and closing our long-term care facilities,” Ricketts continued. “That’s why I’m co-leading Senator Fischer’s Protecting Rural Seniors’ Access to Care Act, which would rollback this rule. I also support Congressional Review Act legislation to block it.”
Watch the video HERE.
TRANSCRIPT:
Senator Ricketts: “One of my top priorities here in the Senate is making government work better.
“A major way to do that is to block burdensome regulations that don’t work for Nebraska.
“This administration has proposed hundreds of one-size-fits-all rules that will disproportionately impact rural Nebraskans.
“One recent example of this is the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ rule mandating new minimum staffing standards for long-term care facilities.
“Look, we all want to make sure our seniors have the best standard of care.
“But this one-size-fits-all mandate actually does the opposite of that.
“Instead of helping Nebraska seniors, this rule would cause closures of numerous facilities across our state.
“It would limit access to critical care for Nebraska seniors. That’s wrong.
“As a member of the Special Committee on Aging, I will do everything in my power to stop this burdensome federal rule from going into place and closing our long-term care facilities.
“That’s why I’m co-leading Senator Fischer’s Protecting Rural Seniors’ Access to Care Act, which would rollback this rule.
“I also support Congressional Review Act legislation to block it.
“Nationally, the long-term care industry faces historic staffing shortages.
“Those shortages are particularly acute in rural areas, and they’re forecasted to only get worse.
“In Nebraska, 80% of counties have lower per capita numbers of Registered Nurses (RNs) and Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) than the national average.
“Nine Nebraska counties have no practicing Registered Nurses at all.
“According to CMS, 75% of nursing homes would have to increase staffing to comply with these standards.
“A nationwide study from the American Health Care Association shows nursing homes would need to hire more than 100,000 additional nurses and nurse aides. Where are they going to come from?
“That has an estimated cost of $6.8 billion. $6.8 BILLION.
“Remember, we already have a historic staffing shortage.
“The administration’s one-size-fits-all rule would turn the current shortage into a crisis.
“It would clearly hurt residents in smaller, rural communities.
“While there is an implementation period on the rule, many nursing homes across Nebraska have already been trying to identify alternatives to providing nursing home care due to this rule.
“Put plainly, that means nursing home care in Nebraska will DECREASE because of this rule, not INCREASE. That means closures. That’s just wrong.
“I’m going to continue standing up for our seniors.
“These delusional requirements, that somehow we’re going to find all these new nurses when we’re already short, that they’re going to be able to be hired in our long-term care facilities, is just absolutely crazy.”