AHA Responds to CMS Final Rule on Nursing Home Staffing

The American Hospital Association criticized a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services final rule requiring minimum staffing standards for nursing homes. The association says safe staffing should consider clinical judgment and flexibility to account for patient needs, facility characteristics and the care team’s expertise and experience, rather than “an arbitrary number set by regulation.” The AHA says the final rule could cause nursing homes to reduce capacity or close, resulting in delays for hospitalized patients transferring to nursing homes for post-acute care and for patients receiving emergency care transferring to inpatient care. The requirements also could exacerbate workforce shortages. Only 19% of nursing facilities would meet the minimum staffing standards under the final rule’s full implementation with current staffing levels, a KFF policy brief found. (AHA statement, 4/22/24)