A set of reforms developed and implemented through the Department of Health and Human Services roll out to improve the quality of nursing home care. DHHS plans to hold nursing homes accountable for the care they provide and make issues more transparent.
The pandemic highlighted issues in care facilities across the country which are home to many at-risk senior citizens. Despite the billions of taxpayers’ dollars funneled into these facilities, many continue to provide substandard care. The employee turnover rates are extremely high and there has not been a minimum staffing requirement for those who provide day-to-day care.
DHHS plans to make some changes, specifically these highlighted below:
- Explore ways to phase out of multi-occupancy rooms and promote single-occupancy rooms.
- Enforce per-day penalties for poor-performing centers. Proposed laws could increase the dollar limit on per-instance financial penalties levied on poor-performing facilities from $21,000 to $1,000,000.
- Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is creating a database to track nursing home ownership and operators, staff turnover rates and weekend staffing levels. This info will be public and made accessible to those researching these facilities.
- More training requirements for staff and more access to training and certification to diversify the workforce. CMS in collaboration with the Department of Labor will launch a National Nursing Homes Career Pathways campaign. This will include apprenticeship programs and labor unions to conduct a robust recruitment and training campaign.
- On-going investigations into private equity firms that are purchasing nursing homes at significantly high rates. This business model tends to put profits over people and CMS intends to scrutinize these facilities over the coming months and years. This is based on several studies showing that private equity owned nursing homes had higher infection and death rates from the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Establish minimum staffing requirements so that all nursing home residents are provided safe, quality care and ensuring workers have the support they need to do their jobs well.
- Reinforce safeguards against unnecessary medications and treatments. CMS will launch an effort to identify problematic diagnoses and lessen overprescribing.
- Continued Covid-19 testing, vaccination and other prevention strategies aimed to protect this vulnerable population. CMS also plans to make sweeping changes to emergency preparedness requirements in an effort to be ready for another pandemic or similar type of emergency.
These efforts to improve the nursing home situation across the country will greatly benefit our seniors. At Stouffer Legal, we care about our elderly population and feel hopeful that these new plans will greatly improve a system that needs it. For more information on elder law issues such as estate planning, incapacity planning and long-term care planning contact our experienced attorneys for a consultation. You can schedule an appointment by calling us at (443) 470-3599 or emailing us at office@stoufferlegal.com.
