Mandatory Minimum Staffing

Finally, mandatory minimum staffing was passed for long-term care by the Federal Government.  I have been harping about mandatory minimum staffing for years and finally, legislation was passed at a Federal level, but only for long-term care.  I always wondered why California, which is the only state now along with Oregon, which is the second state in the nation to adopt mandatory nurse staffing ratios did not apply to long term care.  I wondered why they did not include long-term care.  I am so glad that finally mandatory minimum staffing is required for long-term care facilities.  The law will be implemented over three years and over five years for rural areas.  Ninety-four (94%) percent of nursing homes were not meeting at least one of the proposed staffing requirements. 

Residents are now required to receive 3.48 hours per patient day of care and they must have an RN on site 24 hours a day 7 days a week.  It will be interesting to see how these long term care facilities comply.  If they don’t, the cost is huge with because they could lose funding.  It will be interesting to see how these long-term care facilities improve staffing and I expect to see a dramatic improvement in care when residents are getting the hours of service that they need.  I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.