CMS completes minimum staffing study; targeting ‘onerous’ MA authorizations

[T]he Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has completed a study of minimum staffing standards for nursing homes and is considering its policy options.

“The report includes recommendations of potential barriers to and unintended consequences of implementing the recommendations and cost implications,” Moody-Williams said. “We are currently reviewing it to determine our policy direction.”

A minimum staffing proposal, first broached by the White House last February, is widely expected to be proposed some time this spring. Just this week, senators from several states asked CMS to resist a “one-size-fits-all” approach, given labor issues that are worse in some areas of the country.