Judge strikes down controversial Biden mandate to increase nursing home staffing
CNN
A federal judge in Texas on Monday nixed a controversial Biden administration rule that would have required nursing homes to boost their nursing staff in coming years.
A federal judge in Texas on Monday nixed a controversial Biden administration rule that would have required nursing homes to boost their nursing staff in coming years. US District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk noted that staffing and other deficiencies at nursing homes “deserve an effectual response. But any regulatory response must be consistent with Congress’s legislation governing nursing homes.” “Though rooted in laudable goals, the Final Rule still must be consistent with Congress’s statutes,” wrote Kacsmaryk, an appointee of President Donald Trump. The Biden administration finalized the first-ever minimum staffing regulation for nursing homes last April. The mandate, which would have required facilities to hire more registered nurses and nurse aides, was quickly challenged in court by nursing home operators and their trade associations. Nursing homes already struggle to fill open positions, they said. “This unrealistic staffing mandate threatened to close nursing homes and displace vulnerable seniors,” Clif Porter, CEO of American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said in a statement. Meeting the proposed mandate would have required nursing homes to hire more than 100,000 additional nurses and nurse aides at an annual cost of $6.8 billion, according to the association’s 2023 analysis.
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