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Iowa A.G. Bird leads challenge to federal nursing home staffing rules
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird has gone to court to try to block a new federal rule on staffing at long-term care facilities that she says will force the “mass shutdown” of nursing homes around the country.
The rule requires nursing homes that get federal funding from Medicare and Medicaid to have a registered nurse on site 24 hours a day. Each resident must receive about three-and-a-half hours of care daily from a nurse or health care aide. Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird says those requirements are “unrealistic” due to the nationwide shortage of healthcare workers and 94% of nursing homes fail to meet those staffing levels today. Bird is leading a 20-state group of attorneys general suing to stop the Biden Administration mandate. Bird says it will increase the cost of nursing care by $43 billion ds over the next decade, leading to increased patient fees in nursing homes.
The White House says the rule addresses nursing homes that are chronically understaffed, which can lead to substandard or unsafe care. The lawsuit argues the Center for Medicare and Medicaid does not have the authority to enforce the rule. The attorneys general estimate U.S. nursing homes would be forced to hire more than 100,000 additional full-time employees to comply with the staffing mandate.
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