“Seniors could lose access to 280,000 nursing home beds, forcing older Americans to pick up and move to nursing homes far from friends and family, if they are lucky enough to find an open spot”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08) issued the following statement after the Biden Administration’s Department of Health and Human Services issued its final nursing home staffing mandate: 

“The Biden Administration’s one-size-fits-all nursing home mandate is a disaster for America’s seniors, particularly seniors living in rural and underserved communities. Seniors could lose access to 280,000 nursing home beds, forcing older Americans to pick up and move to nursing homes far from friends and family, if they are lucky enough to find an open spot. Nursing homes are not suffering from a lack of mandates. They’re facing a lack of nurses. This rule would only make things worse for our seniors and the health care providers who support them. 

“Over 1,000 nursing home groups have spoken out against this overreaching regulation, yet the Biden Administration is again choosing to ignore the American people in favor of bigger and more intrusive government. The Ways and Means Committee has passed bipartisan legislation to block the implementation and enforcement of this staffing mandate. We will continue to fight for quality care for American seniors in every single community.”

Key Background

• Seniors Will Lose Beds: Up to 280,000 nursing home beds could be removed as a consequence of the staffing mandate.
• Nursing Homes Already Struggling: In the last four years, more than 400 nursing homes have shuttered, and 190,000 employees have left the nursing home industry since the pandemic.
• Mandate Cost: According to the Biden Administration’s own estimate, this unfunded mandate will cost nursing homes over $40 billion. 
• Most Nursing Homes Cannot Comply: 94 percent of nursing homes would be forced to hire new staff because of the mandate.
• Biden Administration Cannot Justify Mandate: The report, cited by the Biden Administration to justify proposing the new mandate, found no specified level of staffing could guarantee improved beneficiary outcomes.

Committee Activity

• September 2, 2023: Chairman Smith blasts the proposed nursing home mandate for threatening nursing home care, particularly in rural and underserved areas.
• September 16, 2023: Chairman Smith hears from Missouri constituents about the harm this mandate will have on seniors in rural communities.
• October 31, 2023: House and Senate Republican committee leaders demand the Biden Administration immediately withdraw the proposed rule.
• March 6, 2024: Ways and Means Committee passes bipartisan legislation, to block the Biden Administration from implementing and enforcing the nursing home mandate.