Biden to launch ambitious overhaul of nursing home quality
President Joe Biden will use his State of the Union speech to launch a major overhaul of nursing home quality, including minimum staffing levels and steps to beef up inspections while continuing to keep COVID-19 at bay. White House officials on Monday outlined more than 20 separate actions, many of them sought by advocates and opposed by the industry.
The cornerstone of Biden's nursing home plan is a new requirement for minimum staffing levels. He's ordering the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to conduct a study on staffing and publish proposed regulations within a year.
Biden's plan also calls for moving nursing homes toward private rooms for their residents, directing federal regulators to explore how to phase out living arrangements that house three or more residents in the same room. “Despite the tens of billions of federal taxpayer dollars flowing to nursing homes each year, too many continue to provide poor, substandard care that leads to avoidable resident harm,” said a White House policy document that outlined Biden's plan.
Beefed-up oversight is another priority for Biden. His plan calls for increasing the nursing home inspection budget by $500 million, a boost of nearly 25%. Nursing home inspections are generally carried out by the states, following guidelines from Medicare. Biden is planning to revamp a special inspection program that focuses on low-performing facilities, to raise fines on nursing homes that fail to improve and, if necessary, cut off Medicare and Medicaid payments.
One major missing element: New sources of federal financing to pay for the ambitious upgrade.
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/biden-launch-overhaul-nursing-home-standards-safety-83163747
= new reply since forum marked as read
