MN nursing homes join lawsuit to stop Biden regulations from shutting them down
Under Gov. Tim Walz, Minnesota does not appear among the 20 state governments suing to stop the Biden administration from implementing over-the-top new staffing requirements for nursing homes that industry representatives guarantee will drive some out of business.
Yet Minnesota will still be part of the high-stakes federal lawsuit, thanks to a senior care organization that’s a member of a coalition of 20 such state-based groups supporting the states’ attempt to prevent the onerous regulations from taking effect before it’s too late.
LeadingAge Minnesota represents 1,100 nursing homes and senior care facilities statewide, the Post Bulletin notes, whose existence will be jeopardized by unrealistic and unnecessary new minimum staffing requirements being phased in.
Overall, [CEO of LeadingAge Minnesota Kari] Thurlow said, the concern is that the additional staffing requirements, combined with workforce shortages in the long-term care sector, will leave “the vast majority of nursing homes in a real pickle.”
“The vast majority of Minnesota nursing homes will not be able to meet … the three main components of the rule,” which can lead to those facilities receiving citations and fines for being out-of-compliance, Thurlow said. “They are already financially frail, so they are really facing the prospect of closure in those situations.”
The new regulations promulgated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services completely upend the longstanding expectations for the number of nurses required to be on staff at senior facilities. The sharp increase appears to have been mandated with little concern for the acute nursing and staff shortages nursing homes often already face in the marketplace.
The final rule sets a new standard for the hours of direct nursing care for residents: 3.48 hours per resident day, defined as the total hours worked by nursing staff divided by the total number of residents.
If these changes go into effect — their implementation is staggered through the next few years — LeadingAge Minnesota says the state will need an extra 1,000 full-time registered nurses and certified nursing assistants to meet the requirements.
“Essentially, what CMS has done is moved away from a standard that we have had in place for a long time, where nursing facilities are allowed to staff according to what their residents need,” said Kari Thurlow, president and CEO of LeadingAge Minnesota.
Vice President Kamala Harris celebrated the roll out of the costly new requirements at a roundtable with labor union leaders and nurses covered by Wisconsin Public Radio in La Crosse last spring. The new rules effectively force nursing homes to raise their rates higher to cover costs of increased staffing and compensation resulting from the changes.
CMS also finalized a rule requiring at least 80 percent of Medicaid payments for home care services go to workers’ wages. Harris said the change will help raise wages for direct care workers, which will lead to less staff turnover and higher quality of care.
“This is about dignity,” she said. “It’s about the dignity that we as a society owe to those in particular who care for the least of these.”
The states and senior care organizations bringing the lawsuit want the court to put the brakes on the feds while the case moves through the system. The stakes could hardly be higher for thousands of residents and the senior care centers struggling to serve them.
“And, in doing so, resetting the table for a public-private partnership with CMS, with our state partners, to find real solutions for quality care,” said Thurlow, who added that investment in career training programs is needed to bring more people into the long-term care workforce.