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The proposal calls for Medicare- and Medicaid-certified nursing
homes to provide a staffing equivalent of three hours per
resident, per day. The rules also call for facilities to have a
registered nurse on staff 24 hours a day, daily.
Angela Schnepf, president and CEO with the nonprofit LeadingAge
Illinois, said COVID-19 decimated workforce numbers in long-term
care facilities and they haven’t recovered.
“The challenge we had, particularly in the state of Illinois but
also nationwide, is nursing homes in particular lost about 15%
of their workforce population over COVID, and they have not been
able to recover that,” Schnepf told The Center Square.
In Illinois, Schnepf anticipates communities will need to find
and hire between 820 to 968 RNs and 7,500 to 8,039 certified
nursing assistants.
Schnepf adds that ongoing retention efforts are underway,
including paying for agency staff to help take on the workload,
providing bonus and other incentives for staff willing to work
extra hours, creation of food pantries for staff to shop from,
free cooked meals while at the community, and more.
LeadingAge Illinois said the unfunded staffing mandate will cost
between $383 million to $416 million before any future wage
inflation. With no plan from the government to cover the
increase in costs, the “vast disparity in healthcare is going to
become that much larger.”
The Biden administration announced plans to launch a national
effort to bolster nursing home staffing, including allocating
$75 million for initiatives such as scholarships and tuition
reimbursement programs.
Comments on the proposed rule are due by Nov. 6, 2023.
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