Is the Biden Administration so out of touch with reality that they would actually shove a mandate down the throats of providers to require additional staffing in our nation’s nursing homes? Don’t answer that.
Although we have heard that they are “talking” with the industry about how and what to do, let’s hope it is more frequently than they have talked with Republicans about the debt ceiling problem. Some sort of pronouncement on the staffing mandate is now expected in June, but it would be better to wait and have a workable way to move forward than to set the industry up for failure. Unfortunately, there are too many people who would like to see the entire industry go out of business. Until, of course, their mother or father needs the care that nursing homes provide.
Ever since the State of the Union address when President Biden singled out the nursing home industry, and private equity ownership in particular, we have all wondered what kind of solution would be proposed to help fix the labor shortage and training problem for our industry. But we need the government and industry to work together, not think of new ways to penalize providers.
Now, I, for one, am all for increased transparency in the nursing home industry. After all, 90% of the revenues come from government payers, so the government should have a say in how their money is spent. And maybe I should say our money, the taxpayers.
But imposing a new mandate for higher staffing when providers can’t even find the staff to meet current requirements is, well, the definition of insanity, or at least stupidity. And if they do it without a major funding mechanism for it, well, it will just be a set-up for failure. Is that really going to help things coming out of the pandemic? You can’t be serious!
