CMS Proposes Rule to Establish Minimum Staffing Standards for Long-Term Care Facilities

On September 6, 2023, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published a proposed rule to establish minimum staffing standards for long-term care facilities. The proposed rule would also require states to report the percent of Medicaid payments for certain Medicaid-covered institutional services that are spent on compensation for direct care workers and support staff.

CMS proposes to require a registered nurse (RN) to be on-site 24 hours per day and 7 days per week to provide skilled nursing care to all residents in accordance with resident care plans. CMS also proposes individual minimum staffing type standards, based on case-mix adjusted data for RNs and nursing assistants (NA), to supplement the existing ‘‘Nursing Services,’’ and to specify that facilities must provide, at a minimum, 0.55 RN hours per resident day (HPRD) and 2.45 NA HPRD.

CMS certified under the Regulatory Flexibility Act that the rule would not have a significant impact on a substantial number of small entities, as the regulation’s costs to cover small long-term care facilities would not exceed 2.3% of their revenue.

Comments on the proposed rule are due November 6, 2023.

• Read the proposed rule and submit comments at Federal Register :: Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Minimum Staffing Standards for Long-Term Care Facilities and Medicaid Institutional Payment Transparency Reporting.
• Advocacy contact: Send an email to Linwood Rayford at linwood.rayford@sba.gov.