McKnight’s wishes our readers a happy and healthy long Labor Day weekend. Policy makers, regulators and association planners are ready to ramp up to full speed coming out of it.
Next week, members of Congress will enjoy their last week in home districts before returning to regular legislative activities Sept. 9 in Washington. That’s when the sprint to get legislation favorable to long-term care providers included in some kind of year-end legislation packages will begin in earnest. There are several funding and regulatory measures that the nursing home lobby is extremely interested in.
Among them are bills that could ease the effects of worker shortage. Provider advocates are looking to get the bipartisan Building America’s Health Care Workforce Act (H.R. 468) made permanent. It was called a “lifesaver” during the pandemic for helping recruit and build the nurse-aide ranks.
Another measure that long-term care lobbyists are hopeful about is informally called the CNA lockout bill. The Ensuring Seniors’ Access to Quality Care Act. [S. 1749/H.R. 3227] is bipartisan in both chambers of Congress and would loosen restrictions on CNA training for many of the providers who need its assistance most.
In addition to the legislative branch, long-term care also will, of course, be intently tracking the US presidential race after Labor Day. It is widely believed that returning the GOP to the White House would ease some of the ramped up pressures nursing homes have experienced under the Biden-Harrison administration. By the same token, should Democrat Kamala Harris be elected, there is trepidation that the historic steps taken by Biden to clamp down on nursing homes could continue, though it’s not known to what extent, or if more favorable relationships could be fostered, long-term care leaders say.
September also marks the beginning of an active long-term care conference season. Some of the most prominent include top annual meetings for the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC) [Sept. 23-25 in Washington, DC; the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living [Oct. 6-9 in Orlando FL] and LeadingAge [Oct. 27-30 in Nashville].
Amid those is the start of the new federal fiscal year Oct. 1, which will bring the start of a 4.2% net increase in Medicare Part A payments and an array of regulatory changes from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and other agencies.
