Biden to vow nursing home crackdown as part of State of the Union
Nursing homes have been an epicenter of covid spread during the pandemic, as the virus initially tore through facilities before vaccines were available in 2020, and then continued to sicken and kill residents at an elevated rate last year. Advocates have demanded new policies to ensure nursing homes are better prepared for emergencies and the spread of infectious diseases.
Under Biden’s plan, officials at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will propose minimum staffing levels within the next year, which the White House said would improve safety by ensuring residents receive sufficient care and attention. The nursing home industry has warned that the pandemic has exacerbated long-running staffing shortages, citing data that roughly 420,000 employees in nursing homes and long-term care facilities have departed over the last two years.
Federal officials also will explore tactics to encourage nursing homes to shift to single-occupancy rooms and phase out rooms with three or more residents, which increase the likelihood an infectious disease might spread, the White House said.
Meanwhile, Biden will call on Congress to provide almost $500 million — a 25 percent bump — for health and safety inspections in nursing homes. Thousands of the long-term care facilities went without such inspections in the first months of the pandemic, as inspectors ran short of personal protective equipment and some states prioritized remote visits.
The Biden administration also vows tougher scrutiny of nursing home facilities and investors with a track record of safety concerns, announcing an array of new oversight measures and financial sanctions. For instance, Biden will ask Congress to allow nursing homes to be penalized up to $1 million for certain areas of poor performance, up from $21,000 now.
“For too long, corporate owners and operators have not been held to account for poor nursing home performance,” the White House said in a fact sheet.
Federal officials plan to create a database that would track and identify owners and operators across states to highlight their safety records.
Grabowski said he had questions about whether increasing accountability of nursing homes would free up funding to hire additional workers, in order to meet minimum staffing levels. “How do we make sure there are dollars available to fund all these new positions?” Grabowski asked.
Administration officials also said they planned to investigate the role of private equity firms and other investors in the nursing home sector, the White House said, citing studies that investment groups’ ownership of nursing homes is linked to lower quality of care and higher costs. Biden also will call on Congress to expand regulators’ authority to scrutinize chain owners.
During his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden pledged to improve nursing home safety and reverse policy decisions under former president Donald Trump, such as reducing penalties for nursing homes, that health experts said had put residents at risk.
