Federal law allows states to authorize nursing homes to conduct their own nurse aide training program unless they have had high civil money penalties (now at least $12,924) imposed or they meet other disqualifying criteria. Once a facility is barred from training its aides, the ban continues for two years, although facilities may request waivers under certain circumstances. As the Center for Medicare Advocacy has written before, nursing home owners, operators, and trade associations have long objected to the two-year ban and have supported weakening the federal law over the years.
On a party-line vote on May 8, the House Ways & Means Committee approved the Ensuring Seniors’ Access to Quality Care Act, H.R. 8244, which authorizes the ban only for “a deficiency relating to the quality of care provided to residents of the facility.” Democrats opposed the bill, pointing out that the limited quality of care exception fails to account for additional practices that harm residents, such as record falsification and failure to report abuse of a resident.
Nursing home trade associations support the legislation, arguing that the bill would help them strengthen the workforce. Advocates for residents oppose the legislation and question whether the limited quality of care exception would apply to other regulatory requirements whose violation could also harm residents, such as resident rights, quality of life, resident assessment and care planning, nursing services, and infection control, among others.
The full House of Representatives can now take up H.R. 8244. The companion Senate bill, S. 1749, has not had a hearing or been marked up.
May 16, 2024 – T. Edelman