USA Today Report Blasts Nursing Home Staffing Patterns, Enforcement — Industry Leaders Push Back

USA TODAY on Thursday published a lengthy article on nursing home staffing patterns and staffing-related related inspections and enforcement mechanisms. The article describes an investigation carried out by the newspaper, which found that the federal government falls short on enforcing staffing guidelines for nursing homes, with grave consequences for residents.

Leaders with industry groups pushed back on the article, saying that the focus is misplaced, with more attention needed on the workforce crisis besetting the sector.

AHCA Senior Vice President Holly Harmon was quoted in the USA TODAY article, as was an ACHA press release from the summer, which stated that 94% of nursing homes need to increase staffing to meet Biden’s prospective minimum staffing mandates, costing $10 billion a year.

“A new, federal staffing mandate without the available workforce and financial resources necessary to meet it would reinforce a punitive process that hasn’t been working for decades,” she said.