The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on March 17, 2021, “A National Tragedy: COVID-19 in the Nation’s Nursing Homes.”[1] The Center for Medicare Advocacy has now submitted a Statement for the record that asks Congress to address longstanding problems in nursing facilities – inadequate nurse staffing levels, both professional and paraprofessional; poor infection control practices; and limited enforcement of standards of care. The Center asks Congress to require meaningful nurse staffing levels and reverse the dismantling of the enforcement system.
In addition, the Center asks Congress to address changes in the nursing home industry since the 1987 Nursing Home Reform Law was enacted that have reduced accountability for the quality of care that facilities provide and for public spending, and, specifically, to:
- Enact laws to prohibit or at least restrict/reduce provider self-dealing
- Enact law (with enforceable consequences for violations) limiting the amount of public reimbursement that can be spent on profits, administration, and overhead
- Enact laws (with enforceable consequences for violations identifying who is eligible to own and manage nursing facilities
The Center’s Statement is available at https://medicareadvocacy.org/statement-to-the-senate-finance-committee/
[1] See “Senate Finance Committee Hearing on Covid-19 and Nursing Homes” (CMA Alert, Mar. 18, 2021), https://medicareadvocacy.org/senate-finance-committee-hearing-on-covid-19-and-nursing-homes/