Biden’s Plan To Require More Staff for Nursing Homes Likely To Touch Off a Major Political and Labor Dispute in Congress
As longevity continues to increase there is a new burden on providing support services for aged patients.
Skilled nursing facilities are where patients are sent to recover from an acute illness. To be admitted to a. SNF patients must be admitted from an acute care hospital, for patients who are considered to be rehabilitated. There are otther terms for a SNF, such as convalescent hospital.
Skilled care is nursing and therapy care that can only be safely and effectively performed by, or under the supervision of, professionals or technical personnel. It’s health care given when you need skilled nursing or skilled therapy to treat, manage, and observe your condition, and evaluate your care.
Medicare-covered services in a skilled nursing facility include, but aren't limited to:
A semi-private room (a room you share with other patients)
Meals
Skilled nursing care
Physical therapy (if needed to meet your health goal)
Occupational therapy (if needed to meet your health goal)
Speech-language pathology services (if they're needed to meet your health goal)
Medical social services
Medications
Medical supplies and equipment used in the facility
Ambulance transportation (when other transportation endangers your health) to the nearest supplier of needed services that aren’t available at the SNF
Dietary counseling
Medicare benefits include the following
Your costs in Original Medicare
You pay this for each benefit period:
Days 1 - 20: $0 coinsurance
Coinsurance
An amount you may be required to pay as your share of the cost for benefits after you pay any deductibles. Coinsurance is usually a percentage (for example, 20%).
Days 21 - 100: Up to $200 coinsurance per day
Days 101 and beyond: All costs
There's a 100-day limit of Part A SNF coverage in each benefit period.
Many skilled nursing facilities are understaffed, due to lack of caregivers, increasing costs, and inadequate insurance coverage and/or low reimbursements.
Biden’s Plan To Require More Staff for Nursing Homes Likely To Touch Off a Major Political and Labor Dispute in Congress.
The Biden administration’s proposal to mandate minimum staffing requirements for nursing homes across America is expected to touch off what could be an epic political battle pitting labor unions and Democrats against nursing homes unable to meet the requirements.
President Biden’s proposed rules for nursing homes, issued through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, are winning praise from Big Labor. The president of the Service Employees International Union, Mary Kay Henry, is already calling the proposal a “historic first step.”
Yet nursing homes, 95 percent of which already say they face hiring difficulties, are warning that it will be impossible to staff up their facilities to the levels Mr. Biden is proposing to require. The measure would mandate that a registered nurse be on duty at all times, increase hours of care for every patient, and is estimated to cost nursing homes $40.6 billion over 10 years.
Mr. Biden’s proposal for the nursing homes is a first-of-its-kind nationwide mandate. It would bring a widely scattered industry of small businesses under national rule. Plus, it can be seen as a kind of template for other industries that have largely been able to prosper without federal staffing mandates. In this sense, it’s a radical step at the beginning of an election year.
From a health care (physician) or a patient and family perspective it sounds ideal.
Mr. Biden’s proposal for the nursing homes is a first-of-its-kind nationwide mandate. It would bring a widely scattered industry of small businesses under national rule. Plus, it can be seen as a kind of template for other industries that have largely been able to prosper without federal staffing mandates. In this sense, it’s a radical step at the beginning of an election year.
“This once again shows the neglect of a federal regulatory agency and an administration — which is clearly taking advice from special interest groups — to bring all stakeholders to the table and make a rational decision that works for everyone,” the president and chief executive of the Pennsylvania Health Care Association, Zach Shamberg, told The New York Sun
His efforts are in line with union demands for increased wages for caregivers, however new regulations will impact SNFs with increased costs for staffing levels.
Yet nursing homes, 95 percent of which already say they face hiring difficulties, are warning that it will be impossible to staff up their facilities to the levels Mr. Biden is proposing to require. The measure would mandate that a registered nurse be on duty at all times, increase hours of care for every patient, and is estimated to cost nursing homes $40.6 billion over 10 years.
The proposed federal mandate came as several states had already introduced their own nursing home staffing requirements. Pennsylvania implemented new staffing ratios on July 1 and increased the required hours of care for every resident. The requirements are set to increase again in July 2024.
In 2022, New York mandated a minimum staffing requirement and increased daily hours of direct care for every resident. A year later, 75 percent of New York nursing homes did not meet the requirements. Despite labor union praise, there’s little evidence the federal mandates will fare any better.
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