Doggett, Schakowsky, Care Workers, AARP, Consumer Voice Urge Rejection of Industry Effort to Terminate Minimum Nursing Home Staffing Standard
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, June 5, 2024
Contact: Alexis Torres, alexis.torres@mail.house.gov
New EPI analysis debunks ‘unfounded industry claims of a worker shortage’
AARP poll shows 80% of respondents across party lines support minimum staffing standards in nursing homes
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Nursing home workers and advocates from across the country, alongside members of Congress, sounded the alarm on America’s nursing home staffing crisis Wednesday as the for-profit nursing home industry ramps up attacks on measures intended to help ensure safe staffing, quality care and good jobs. Following the House Ways and Means Committee's approval of a bill to prohibit minimum staffing requirements and the introduction yesterday of a Senate Congressional Review Act to repeal the Administration’s new staffing rule, U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett (TX-37) and U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (IL-09) joined together with nursing home workers and advocates from AARP and Consumer Voice to send a clear message that safe staffing saves lives. A video of the event is available here.
Nursing home workers from California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Massachusetts, Oregon and beyond shared how they are fighting for a future where our nation’s essential care workers are respected, protected and paid living wages and where everyone who needs care can access it in a safe, dignified setting of their choice. The Biden Administration recently finalized important rules that take steps toward achieving that vision by setting standards for safe nursing home staffing and helping ensure that public dollars go to care providers’ wages and don’t just pad executives’ pockets. Now, nursing home industry groups are actively undermining these federal minimum staffing standards, which would support the nursing home workforce and boost quality of care.
“Our elders and residents deserve the best care that they can receive. Being understaffed does not create that atmosphere. When I started in this industry, there used to be 6 certified nursing assistants (CNAs) for 48 residents. Now, we are lucky if we have 3 CNAs for 48 residents. It is impossible,” said Joanne Edmond, a Massachusetts nursing home worker and member of 1199 SEIU - UHE. “This is the first time we’ve had standards of this kind. We should embrace this, not stop it before we even try. It just makes sense.”
A poll by the AARP shows that the minimum staffing rule has broad public support, with 80% of respondents reporting they support minimum staffing standards for nursing homes. The support crosses party lines, with 89% of Democrats, 74% of Republicans and 70% of independents voicing support for minimum standards. AARP members have sent over 200,000 emails to members of Congress, urging them to abandon attempts to oppose the rule.
“Taxpayers spend over $80 billion annually to provide the hands-on care our most vulnerable seniors need and American families expect that nursing homes are using these federal dollars to provide quality care,”said Megan O'Reilly, AARP Vice President of Government Affairs.“Attempts to repeal it risk the health of over one million older Americans who live in nursing homes today. At AARP we are prepared to fight as long and as hard as necessary to ensure adequate nursing home staffing levels.”
Flanked by signs reading “Safe Staffing Saves Lives,”nursing home workers shared stories about their struggles to provide quality care amid dangerously low staffing rates and called out nursing home executives for choosing to line their own pockets rather than invest in workers and safe staffing levels. Members of Congress praised nursing home workers for the importance of the work they do to care for seniors and people with disabilities, and issued an urgent call to ensure the minimum staffing standards become law.
“Safe staffing saves lives. But with wealthy nursing home executives cutting corners, residents are not getting the care they need and more than half of the nursing workforce in the average facility is turning over every year. For more than two decades, the nursing home industry has successfully resisted standards recommended to assure adequate resident health and safety. Now they are attempting to block the first progress to assure that sufficient nursing home staff are available to protect resident health—to prevent bed sores, ensure daily hygiene and avoid accidents. Contrary to what the industry claims, there isn’t a workforce shortage, there is a shortage of decent wages and fair treatment for care workers,”said U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett (TX-37).
"Let me make this clear, safe staffing standards save lives and strengthen the workforce. We have seen what private equity companies do; they buy up nursing homes, cut staff, and put profits over people. There is not a worker shortage, there is a pay shortage! Numerous studies have shown that safe nurse-to-patient staffing ratios result in higher quality care for patients, lower health care costs, and an overall better workplace for nurses,” said U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (IL-09). “For years, I have talked to exhausted nurses who have said they go home at night, wondering if they forgot to turn a patient because they were stretched far too thin. Our seniors and long-term care residents deserve to age with dignity and respect. I’m so grateful to all the nursing home employees, advocates, and organizers who have joined us in this fight for safe staffing standards. When we fight, we win!”
Staffing standards are not only important for resident care, they’re also vital to supporting the workers who care for them – a workforce dominated by women and Black, brown and immigrant workers. The bulk of nursing home workers are nursing aides, who are more than 90 percent women, 56 percent people of color, 35 percent Black and 21 percent immigrant. Other jobs in facilities such as dietary aides and janitorial staff skew even further toward people of color and immigrants and are paid lower wages with fewer benefits and protections than certified nursing assistants.
“It’s simple: safe staffing is good for nursing home residents and it’s good for workers. Workers who do the bulk of caregiving in our nation’s nursing homes have been demanding safer staffing for years – and now, the Biden Administration heard them,” said SEIU International President April Verrett. “Nursing home workers aren’t afraid to stand up to profit-hungry corporations and greed in their industry. They’re a force to be reckoned with, and they’re not alone. Workers across industries, from Starbucks baristas, to fast food cooks and cashiers, airport service workers, healthcare workers and beyond are watching who is and who isn’t on their side in Washington. They will only show up and vote for worker champions come November.”
A new analysis by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) similarly debunks industry claims that a worker shortage would prevent nursing homes from meeting the new staffing standard. Another investigation by the Conversation found that the nursing home industry “places a premium on cost cutting and big profits, with low staffing and poor quality, often to the detriment of patient well-being.”
Most for-profit nursing homes remained profitable throughout the pandemic and can afford to hire more staff, yet the industry has spent millions pushing back against these standards. A 2024 UCLA study estimates that nursing homes hide 63% of their profits through inflated prices paid to related parties. A 2023 report by the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC) debunked industry claims that Medicaid funding couldn’t support additional staffing requirements. Any increase in cost to nursing homes would be less than 5 percent of the over $100 billion that nursing homes receive from Medicare and Medicaid annually.
Jocelyn Bogdan, a senior policy specialist with Consumer Voice, shared heartbreaking stories from nursing home residents that Consumer Voice gathered through a recent survey about the impact of understaffing in nursing homes. A staggering 88% of residents surveyed reported that their facilities lacked the staff necessary to meet the needs of the residents. Residents shared through the survey that there were days that they weren’t able to get out of bed because there were not enough staff to help them get into a wheelchair. Others shared that they couldn’t bathe, have their face washed or teeth brushed every day because they can’t do it on their own, and there are not enough staff to assist them with this kind of daily task.
“When we talk about the critical need for this minimum staffing standard – and I should mention that none of the residents quoted above currently live in a facility that staffs at the level of the CMS minimum staffing standard, though some live in facilities that are very close – we aren’t just talking about numbers. We are talking about the dignity and lives of actual human beings who rely on staff for their daily needs,” said Jocelyn Bogdan, a senior policy specialist with Consumer Voice. “Residents throughout this country deserve this minimum staffing standard. They deserve to live safely and with dignity. They deserve to have their faces washed and their teeth brushed every single day.”
Nursing home workers are part of a larger movement where workers are rejecting a status quo that never worked for them. Workers across the economy from coast to coast are organizing their workplaces and calling out corporate greed in unprecedented numbers. From fast-food workers, to Starbucks baristas, airport service workers, autoworkers, care workers, Waffle House and Dollar General workers, workers across industries are standing up in historic numbers to demand a voice on the job and hold corporations accountable.
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