Posted Sunday, August 7, 2022
A study meant to support a new federal nursing home staffing minimum will last about seven months and end in December, a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services official said Thursday. With an ongoing debate how mandated staffing levels can be equitably determined at all, CMS has acknowledged there has been a “significant response” to its request for information on establishing mandatory minimum staffing levels.
Policy analyst Cameron Ingram told attendees the study launched in May, and agency officials are working to evaluate more than 3,000 comments on the proposed staffing rule. She said the comments typically pitted the concerns of consumer groups against those of nursing home providers, who have expressed concern about the ability to recruit and pay additional frontline workers.
Commenters, she said, recommended several potential models for developing a stuffing rule, including:
- Using an acuity-staffing model per shift, rather than a broad minimum
- Implementing a hybrid approach using facility assessment requirements and a staffing benchmark to determine additional staffing needs above a standard level
- Establishing minimums for residents with lowest-care needs, assessed using the MDS
Asked whether CMS would address reimbursement when it issues its staffing rule, Ingram declined comment until the study’s conclusion.
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