Reconciliation Bill Includes Funding For SNF Surveys, Staffing Help

Optimism is growing that a long debated domestic policy package — which includes an investment in the skilled nursing sector to improve surveys and ensure staffing ratios are being monitored and adjusted accordingly — could be passed in Congress.

The $1.85 trillion bill, highlighted by social social services and climate change programs, has been coupled with a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. Some of the proposals in the Nursing Home Improvement and Accountability Act of 2021 were lumped into the package, according to the most recent version of the House of Representative’s bill.

The legislation however makes no mention of the building modification and staff investment demonstration program proposed in the act that would have provided additional funding for new resident-centered care approaches such as a small home pilot program.

Advertisement

Green House Project Senior Director Susan Ryan said in a statement to Skilled Nursing News that while the organization fully supports the efforts included in the bill, leaving out the pilot program “is a missed opportunity to strike at the heart of the problems in the sector.”

“New guardrails on the current system will not change the fact that most nursing home residents live in outdated institutions with limited privacy, dignity, or autonomy,” Ryan said.

She said that nursing homes rely on federal funding to operate and providers closely follow government incentives.

Advertisement

“The House and Senate still have a chance to reframe those incentives by including this pilot program in future versions of the infrastructure package,” Ryan added.

Aging services association LeadingAge praised the inclusion of resources for home care, affordable housing and lauded several provisions in the proposed bill that include $150 billion to expand home and community-based services, $1 billion for direct care workforce competitive grants and $40 million to support unpaid caregivers of older individuals behavioral health needs.

“This is an historic step to address the critical needs of older Americans and their families,” LeadingAge President and CEO Katie Smith Sloan said in a press release. “Without further investments in our aging services infrastructure, too many older adults will not have their basic needs met.”

The bill aims to improve skilled nursing transparency and accountability by providing funding for nursing home surveys, appropriating $325 million from 2023 through 2031.

The money will be used to provide training, tools, technical assistance and financial support, according to the bill.

Reviews will also be conducted to better understand how survey results impacted SNF compliance and to see that deficiencies are corrected at facilities.

The surveys themselves will also be reviewed to ensure the facilities were appropriately cited and that the state agency investigations were completed in a timely manner.

The bill proposes allocating $50 million to study skilled nursing staffing from 2023 through 2031. At least once every five years a report will be submitted to Congress on the appropriateness of establishing minimum staff to resident ratios.

An additional $250 million will also be allocated for fiscal year 2023 to remain available until expended for the purposes of conducting an annual audit of the skilled nursing industry.

Companies featured in this article:

,