This article was reprinted with permission from Virginia Mercury.
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares joined attorneys general from 19 states in a lawsuit over a rule change that expands staffing requirements for nursing homes, which the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services announced earlier this year.
Nursing homes are currently required by Congress to provide eight hours of continuous registered nurse staffing per day. The new CMS rule would increase that requirement to 24 hours per day in phases — starting May 2026 for urban facilities and May 2027 for rural facilities. The rule also stipulates that nursing homes meet additional reporting requirements.
Miyares and others in the suit allege the CMS rule will be difficult and costly for long-term care facilities to meet.
“This new rule is yet another example of Washington bureaucrats imposing sweeping mandates without considering the devastating impact on our communities,” Miyares said in a statement. “Nursing homes in Virginia and across the country already face challenges, and this policy will force them out of business.”
A Virginia survey from last October found that nearly half nursing home or long-term care facilities have limited new admissions because they don’t have enough workers to accommodate everyone seeking care.
A rural healthcare committee composed of Virginia delegates has been touring the state since April, where healthcare workforce shortages were noted in meetings from Southwest Virginia to the Eastern Shore. The cohort will deliver a report with legislative and state budget recommendations by the end of this year. Addressing workforce shortages may be part of that.
Meanwhile, the federal rule outlines a “hardship exemption” for some nursing facilities that may be unable to meet the new requirements. Qualifying facilities would post notice of their status on site and the exemption information would also be available on Medicare’s website for transparency.
Kaiser Family Foundation reported that the federal government estimates a quarter of nursing facilities could obtain exemptions for some of the forthcoming requirements.
