WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 09: Committee Chairman Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) questions members of a panel testifying before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense on China’s high altitude balloon surveillance efforts against the United States February 9, 2023 in Washington, DC. Members of both houses of Congress also received closed-door briefings on the recent incident today. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

A federal nursing home staffing proposal already had elicited thousands of stakeholder comments by mid-October, with elected officials also slamming the mandate.

Sen. John Tester (D-MT) led 28 senators in sending a letter to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, calling for the mandate’s withdrawal because it came at the “worst possible time.”

“A one-size-fits all staffing mandate significantly undermines access to care for patients, particularly in rural communities,” they wrote Sept. 29, the same day a House bill to stop the mandate was introduced.

Nursing home advocates continue to press owners and operators to share their concerns about implementing the rule with CMS. The American Health Care Association was aiming for 10,000 comments by Nov. 6. Officials must review and address each as part of the rule-making process.

From the November 2023 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News