Why The Caregiver Definition Must Be Expanded For Nursing Homes to Overcome Labor Crunch

As the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) works to establish federal minimum staffing levels, industry leaders are calling on the government agency to broaden the caregiver definition.

The current federal requirement does not provide a specific daily minimum standard, rather, it states that nursing homes must provide “…sufficient nursing staff to attain or maintain the highest practicable … well-being” of every resident.

However, some state standards and what CMS has previously recommended in past reports to Congress, largely only factor in certified nursing assistants (CNA), licensed practical nurses (LPN) and registered nurses (RN) when breaking down the minimum amount of time a staff member should be directly caring for a resident.