Nursing Homes Should Not Have to Choose Between Overworking Staff and Closing Doors
Nursing homes should not have to choose between overworking their staff and closing their doors. But that’s precisely the choice they must make under the Biden administration’s recent nursing home plan.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced a new rule that requires all nursing homes funded by Medicare and Medicaid to provide residents with care from nurses totaling 3.48 hours per resident per day. Facilities with 100 residents, for example, would require at least two or three registered nurses, a dozen nurses’ aides and two additional nurse staff members – a requirement that will be difficult for Catholic-run homes to meet, especially given our nation’s ongoing nurse shortage.
Overload is Already an Issue for Healthcare Providers
As of 2022, the American Nurses Foundation and the American Nurses Association found that 52% of nurses are considering leaving their jobs due to high workloads and poor work-life balance in the field. 60% of acute care nurses reported that they felt burnt out from work and 75% reported “feeling stressed, frustrated, and exhausted.”
Meanwhile, more than one in seven patients in the United States are cared for by a Catholic hospital each day. Seniors deserve access to care that aligns with their faith background. But unfortunately, many Catholic homes may not have enough resources to pay additional staff, especially with lower Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement rates. Vulnerable seniors will have less access to the care they need when these homes inevitably close from an inability to meet the new staffing requirements.
Made up of more than 2,200 Catholic hospitals, nursing homes, long-term care facilities, and other organizations, the Catholic Health Association (CHA) is the largest group of nonprofit health care providers in the nation. CHA is urging Congress to find alternative solutions to provide nursing home patients the care they deserve.
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