AHCA, THCA Sue Over Nursing Home Staffing Minimums

Nursing home advocacy groups have filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration’s federal staffing minimum rule, which was promised in the wake of the devastation in nursing homes and exacerbation of nursing staff shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

It should come as no surprise that the American Health Care Association (AHCA) filed to challenge the rule, having spent the better part of the last several years warning that added pressures on nursing homes would cause them to close. The suit was filed along with the Texas Health Care Association (THCA) in the Northern District of Texas, an increasingly popular destination for those who want to enjoin the federal government and land before the Supreme Court, according to the New York Times.

The AHCA and THCA suit argues that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) do not have the authority to regulate nursing homes to this degree, and the agency “explicitly and brazenly” departs from Congress’s explicit direction in written law, Modern Healthcare explains.

While this rule has been in the works since at least February 2022 and the policy has undergone the traditional rule making process, the AHCA press release on the lawsuit suggests that the rule was implemented abruptly and improperly. From AHCA President and CEO Mark Parkinson:

Unfortunately, federal officials rushed this flawed policy through, ignoring the credible concerns of stakeholders and showing little regard for the negative impact it will have on our nursing home residents, staff, and the larger health care system. We cannot stand idly by when access to care is on the line and federal regulators are overstepping their authority. Hundreds of thousands of seniors could be displaced from their nursing home; someone has to stand up for them, and that’s what we’re here to do.

The lawsuit asks the court to issue an order that would pause the rollout of the new requirements while the case proceeds. Based on geographic designation, nursing homes currently have three or five years to come into compliance with the rule, STAT reports.

HHS Office of Inspector General Chief Medical Officer Julie Taitsman took to STAT to defend the department, arguing that nursing homes desperately need regulation and structural change in response to the lessons of COVID-19:

The pandemic sounded a call to action on many fronts, which is still ringing loudly as the virus continues to take its toll. Staffing challenges need to be addressed and infection control must be improved to better protect nursing home residents.

Safe care is not possible without an adequate number of qualified nursing staff,” wrote Bill Sweeney, AARP senior vice president for government affairs.

He said AARP has heard from thousands of members whose loved ones have suffered because of poor staffing in nursing homes. More than 185,000 residents died in nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic, casting a spotlight on inadequate staffing and other long-standing problems. Sweeney wrote,

The devastation. . .that too many have faced is unconscionable.