A possible escape from the nursing home staffing mandate?

Yet another week came and went without the much-awaited unveiling [of the staffing mandate] announcement.

National provider leaders said again this week they have had no indications from federal officials as to what’s ahead. All the latter have said is that an announcement will come “this spring.” Last week, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure doubled down on that by emphasizing that she likes to hit her deadlines.

The hope inside AHCA is that an announcement doesn’t occur until well into June, or some other “late” date that would make it impossible to implement a new system by Jan. 1, 2024. That could buy as much as another 12 months’ time. The big prize then could be that a different administration might be on its way into the White House, and that could mean a whole new ballgame.