The case proceeded through summary judgment filings and reached final written arguments in January 2025. A ruling from Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk is expected later this spring.
“Requirements like those at issue in this case are a standard exercise of the Secretary’s congressionally delegated authority to condition nursing homes’ participation in Medicare and Medicaid on compliance with requirements related to the health and safety of residents.”
— McKnight’s Long-Term Care News, January 21, 2025
“AHCA and the other plaintiffs are seeking that remedy in order to set the rule aside immediately without the need for any additional regulatory action or consideration.”
— Skilled Nursing News, January 22, 2025
AHCA, LeadingAge make final argument in legal fight over staffing mandate
“It is particularly irrational to demand massive increases in RN and [nurse aide] staffing at a time when many parts of the country are already experiencing a severe shortage of RNs and NAs, and to saddle nursing homes with a multi-billion-dollar unfunded mandate at a time when many of them are struggling to stay afloat.”
— McKnight’s Long-Term Care News, December 17, 2024
Final Argument in Staffing Rule Lawsuit Highlights Chevron Doctrine, But Appeals Could Drag On
“Congress has not left any gap to fill. Even in the heyday of Chevron deference, it was understood that when ‘Congress has directly spoken to the precise question at issue … that is the end of the matter.'”
— Skilled Nursing News, December 17, 2024
“Plaintiffs may be unhappy with the policy embodied in the Final Rule, or the effect the Final Rule may have on their business practices. But that does not make for a successful [Administrative Procedure Act] challenge.”
— McKnight’s Long-Term Care News, November 18, 2024
‘Discovered authority’ for nursing home staffing rule can’t stand: latest AHCA legal challenge
“CMS has not even tried to claim that the statutory provisions in which Congress explicitly addressed staffing requirements empower the agency to enact these sweeping new mandates.”
— McKnight’s Long-Term Care News, October 21, 2024
‘Textbook Unlawful’: Nursing Home Plaintiffs Urge Judge to Swiftly Halt CMS Staffing Mandate
“The Final Rule is textbook unlawful agency action. It exceeds CMS’s statutory authority, rewrites Congress’ chosen approach, and improperly tries to wrest control over a major political and economic issue without congressional authorization.”
— Skilled Nursing News, October 21, 2024
“Consolidation would therefore ensure both cases are handled expeditiously and ‘eliminate unnecessary repetition and confusion’ between potentially dueling dispositions.”
— Skilled Nursing News, September 16, 2024
CMS submits 75,000 pages to federal court to justify nursing home staffing mandate
“The submission of the administrative record is the first significant advance in the case since the American Health Care Association brought its challenge to the minimum staffing standard in late May.”
— McKnight’s Long-Term Care News, September 15, 2024
Texas adds pressure with lawsuit against nursing home staffing mandate ‘power grab’
“This power grab by Biden’s health bureaucrats could put much-needed care facilities out of business in some of the most underserved areas of our state.”
— McKnight’s Long-Term Care News, August 15, 2024
“The parties believe this will prevent protracted, lengthy and costly litigation by agreeing to proceed this route.”
— Skilled Nursing News, August 14, 2024
A Supreme Court decision on Friday could significantly weaken federal agencies’ authority to regulate industries, including powers of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), with wide implications for the recently finalized federal minimum staffing rule for nursing homes.
The Supreme Court’s decision to discard the long-standing so-called Chevron doctrine is a “game changer,” when it comes to upholding the federal staffing mandate against litigation, legal sources told Skilled Nursing News.
— Skilled Nursing News, June 28, 2024
‘A Nightmare’: AHCA Files Lawsuit Against Federal Nursing Home Staffing Mandate
“The Final Rule thus promises to be a nightmare not only for owners and operators of nursing homes, but also for the vulnerable residents they serve, in direct derogation of CMS’s statutory mandate.”
— Skilled Nursing News, May 24, 2024
Ensign CEO: Nursing Homes Have Decent Legal and Legislative Means To Challenge Staffing Proposal
As a “chunk” of the nursing home sector teeters on the brink, the political will of the White House and the unions to implement the federal staffing mandate appears to be at odds with its practicality, affording the industry a chance to challenge it both legislatively and legally.
This view was expressed by Ensign CEO Barry Port during a presentation at the Oppenheimer & Co.’s annual health care conference on Tuesday, where he and other Ensign executives also spoke about occupancy recovery, reimbursement rates, improving metrics on staffing and acquisition opportunities for Ensign.
— Skilled Nursing News, March 12, 2024
